AI Is Redefining Seller Productivity with Alex Varel

AI Is Redefining Seller Productivity with Alex Varel

Seller productivity is being redefined in real time, and the divide is no longer about effort or experience. In this segment, Alex Varel shares a grounded look at how AI is already reshaping the role, from a RevOps leader training multiple agents in a single weekend to the expectation that sellers will augment their own output. The conversation highlights a growing reality for revenue teams: those who get hands-on with AI will operate at a different level, while those who don’t risk falling behind faster than they expect. 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 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexvarel/] Resources mentioned: * "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell [https://www.amazon.com/Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868] * "AI Superpowers" by Kai-Fu Lee [https://www.amazon.com/AI-Superpowers-China-Silicon-Valley/dp/132854639X] * “Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson [https://www.amazon.com/Leonardo-Vinci-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1501139150] * "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy [https://www.amazon.com/Country-Old-Men-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0375706674] * "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy [https://www.amazon.com/Road-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307387895] * “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley” by Jimmy Soni [https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Paypal-Entrepreneurs-Shaped-Silicon/dp/1501197266] Listen to the full episode: * How AI Is Rewriting the Sales Playbook and Raising the Bar on Human Performance with Alex Varel [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-ai-is-rewriting-the-sales-playbook-and-raising-the/id1610203369?i=1000764776651] 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 [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale.    Connect with Us:  * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/revenue-builders-podcast/] * YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Forcemanagement] * Force Management [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]

How Revenue Leaders Scale Beyond Hero Sellers with Jason Forget, CRO Behind Multiple Startup-to-Scale Journeys

Revenue growth becomes harder to sustain when leadership relies on a handful of top performers, inconsistent processes, or reactive decision-making. Jason Forget, President and CRO of Cockroach Labs, shares lessons from building revenue organizations from the earliest startup stages through large-scale growth, explaining why sales motions must continuously evolve as companies scale. The conversation explores the role of RevOps as a strategic advisor to leadership, the importance of building a strong middle class of sellers, hiring for adaptability and coachability, and creating cultures where problems surface early. Jason also shares how open-source adoption can be transformed into enterprise-wide business outcomes through disciplined account planning, executive engagement, and scalable go-to-market execution. Jason Forget is President and CRO of Cockroach Labs and has spent his career building revenue organizations from multiple vantage points, including finance, RevOps, sales, and executive leadership. That uncommon path has shaped his approach to predictable growth, helping companies scale from early-stage startups to enterprise revenue organizations through operational discipline, coaching, and repeatable sales systems. Connect with Jason: * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-forget-3960241] Resources mentioned: * "The Locker Room is Not for Sale" by Coach Brian White [https://www.amazon.com/Locker-Room-Not-Sale-Always/dp/B0GLV43YRQ] Key takeaways from this episode:  * 00:00 – Why the most effective RevOps leaders act less like operators and more like trusted advisors to the business. * 02:52 – What it really takes to turn product adoption into an executive-level business conversation. * 05:26 – A look inside how enterprise momentum is built long before an executive meeting is secured. * 12:26 – Why many CROs underestimate how dramatically a sales motion must evolve as a company scales. * 21:38 – What leaders often overlook about the group that drives the most predictable revenue growth. * 37:08 – Why the best hires are not always the most experienced candidates on paper. * 54:31 – The mistake many leaders make when performance issues appear without understanding the full context. 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 [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale.    Connect with Us:  * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/revenue-builders-podcast/] * YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Forcemanagement] * Force Management [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]

You Can’t Delegate Sales Early with Lou Shipley

In this minisode, we hear from Lou Shipley, a three-time CEO, Harvard Business School professor, and author who has spent his career building and scaling venture-backed companies. This clip focuses on a critical mistake early-stage founders make: delegating sales before they truly understand the problem they’re solving. Lou walks through how he validated a company by getting directly in front of customers, why founders have to act as the first salesperson, and how real product-market fit only emerges through those early conversations. For leaders, this is a reminder that sales is not something you hand off. It’s how you learn, refine, and prove the business. Lou Shipley is a three-time CEO, Harvard Business School professor, and author of Unlikely Entrepreneurs. He has led multiple startups and previously taught sales at MIT. Connect with Lou:  * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/loushipley/] * Website [https://www.loushipley.com/] Resources mentioned: * Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Wins, Losses, and Crucial Lessons on Building Great Companies by N. Louis Shipley and Patricia Favreau [https://www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Entrepreneurs-Lou-Shipley/dp/1394345895] Listen to the full episode: * Sales as the System and Why Founders Must Own the Problem with Lou Shipley [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sales-as-the-system-and-why-founders-must-own-the/id1610203369?i=1000761806906] 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 [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale.    Connect with Us:  * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/revenue-builders-podcast/] * YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Forcemanagement] * Force Management [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]

Selling Enterprise AI with Context, Adoption, and Measurable ROI with Daniel Simon

Enterprise AI buying has moved quickly, but durable adoption still depends on context, security, workflow fit, and measurable business impact. Daniel Simon, Enterprise Account Executive at Glean, joins John Kaplan and John McMahon to discuss what it takes to sell AI in complex enterprise environments, why multi-threading matters more when buyers are evaluating broad organizational change, and how strong sellers build trust by tying use cases to productivity, governance, and ROI instead of relying on product excitement alone. Daniel Simon is an Enterprise Account Executive at Glean, where he works with large enterprises on AI adoption, knowledge discovery, and productivity across complex organizations. He brings experience selling enterprise technology into multi-stakeholder buying environments. Connect with Dan: * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-simon-48075963] Resources mentioned: * The Qualified Sales Leader by by John McMahon  [https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064] * The Go-Giver by by Bob Burg  [https://www.amazon.com/Go-Giver-Expanded-Little-Powerful-Business/dp/1591848288/] Key takeaways from this episode:  * 00:00 – Introduction * 02:40 – What it really takes to move from product fluency to business impact in enterprise sales. * 06:35 – Why many sellers mistake a strong champion for a qualified enterprise deal. * 08:47 – A look inside how AI can expose qualification gaps without replacing sales fundamentals. * 18:12 – What leaders often overlook about context as the real differentiator in enterprise AI. * 30:51 – Why face-to-face engagement quietly creates leverage in a crowded AI market. * 42:58 – Dan Simon’s perspective on why consumption-based pricing raises the bar for customer success. * 57:12 – Why AI will amplify strong sales discipline and expose weak execution. 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 [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale.    Connect with Us:  * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/revenue-builders-podcast/] * YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Forcemanagement] * Force Management [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]

High LTV Isn’t Enough: The ICP Tradeoff Leaders Miss with Dan Sperring

In this today’s segment, Dan Sperring, founder and CEO of Align ICP, breaks down a mistake most revenue leaders make when defining their ideal customer profile. The instinct is to chase the highest lifetime value customers, but those segments are often the hardest to win, the slowest to close, and the first to break when the market shifts. This clip focuses on how to balance three critical factors inside your ICP: lifetime value, ease of acquisition, and market health. Dan explains why ignoring any one of these creates pipeline risk, and how leaders can avoid over-rotating into segments that look great on paper but fail in execution. For leaders responsible for predictable growth, this is about making smarter tradeoffs, not just better targeting. Dan Sperring is the founder and CEO of AlignICP, a company focused on helping revenue teams align around high-value customer segments to drive predictable growth. He brings experience across customer success, revenue leadership, and scaling SaaS businesses through product-market and go-to-market alignment. Connect with Dan: * AlignICP [https://www.alignicp.com/product] * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansperring/] Books mentioned: * The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen [https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-New-Foreword-Technologies/dp/1647826764/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=189429696674&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.lCWi-zmHTDBj-3cRupncVmBU_f6Ud7NdprLYPZ4bvcdHWl2moi9B5IkQKrINI2Yrg-N_OWXA7TmwFmi4NBCh0FD6qb_Mm5ZpIrMFcY0LGTk4FtpLcEtOv-kNV0AZB6_ht3VqIN7-671NoZbKZIho8HBFJF2hHW0NmMQLysdIqU6sbOfx5Rcz9H_2GwMR6Ne-R8tTGnqcz2Q7wX8xoh9TdpwhuVIuHGVF89fy9gTz9A0.kT6K-MC03pPaNkGahDnhWHT52bWd80bYsZi9VlJI4uQ&dib_tag=se&hvadid=792781741606&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9060248&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=2055860567957866814--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2055860567957866814&hvtargid=kwd-105199355&hydadcr=25285_13835705_2335051&keywords=the+innovator%27s+dilemma&mcid=d4b4312c290031ecb04695ea2d36969a&qid=1775156620&sr=8-1] * The Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor [https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Solution-New-Foreword-Sustaining/dp/1647826780/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=186409713077&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FL7QY8kPgurmBUUpKrgfUhGceJrAM1qFPE2eo05d8aVWMV41is5Q7lEqUEyPTGx2RnkD1Ry58HeC1IR98cwTfrDTkHxm944M2RnSHiVWfsDjgUYlJ82yD3RNJiVxfwurUVRNLULRP_osUh6dBZo7VbQ0GIN736k7v5XG5SFKCxqB0KF-L9zlOiaOWhFP27JDWdAtIBe6iCGXWTSexdNZWTjxWccDoIPt1rhwi58hdCs.c3loJHzmEJDCxhRofSzuYeYZG9qFFjcAhNx406jHCHw&dib_tag=se&hvadid=779584060285&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9060248&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=13559139378528932056--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13559139378528932056&hvtargid=kwd-296571223360&hydadcr=24406_13859724_2335818&keywords=the+innovator%27s+solution&mcid=d8fe8b42754a329da21f392390f7fcf5&qid=1775156676&sr=8-1] * Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler  [https://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380248/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=187088775555&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3tH2NSqNNmBHYVBV4BnjhzIp9xYtaEFbvrR8QL4AnAkDOCz-M4zsJTLll7hXZRuZH24fWKS7LVTBxQChxNbMsMDIEzeFBBsGUKTeQLe_uPIcT8G9FML1X7o60d2US8H0Qd-QPbYYveGoBXf3LMGfqH48P1nK282D7CAJHv3lPy38kJLK8VeWRePd9ekHWKsR.tjQiFFU5Dv3tF2T1G7HjSys74yD0l4fiZtld-sdknk0&dib_tag=se&hvadid=792833136882&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9060248&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=17603122199940111596--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17603122199940111596&hvtargid=kwd-314575699342&hydadcr=24213_13896752_2336832&keywords=aaron+ross+predictable+revenue&mcid=e6201f0c77d734cc83f1eb913d240496&qid=1775156732&sr=8-1] * Amp It Up by Frank Slootman [https://www.amazon.com/Amp-Hypergrowth-Expectations-Increasing-Elevating/dp/B0B75V43MR] Tools and podcasts mentioned: * clay.com [http://clay.com] * zoominfo.com [http://zoominfo.com] * The Science of Scaling Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-science-of-scaling/id1692614906] Listen to the full episode: * Aligning Pipeline to Ideal Customer Profile with Dan Sperring [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aligning-pipeline-to-ideal-customer-profile-with-dan/id1610203369?i=1000760455694] Get the Force Management framework for aligning your ICP, sales motion, and customer lifecycle around high-value use cases and measurable business outcomes: * The Predictable Revenue Framework: Guide for Leaders [https://hubs.li/Q03-T6NH0] 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 [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale.    Connect with Us:  * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/revenue-builders-podcast/] * YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Forcemanagement] * Force Management [https://www.forcemanagement.com/]