Alpha HQ Flashcards
What is Alpha?
*In a world where consumers are more fickle than ever before about the brands they support,
you deliver a highly-focused platform for on-demand market feedback
*In essence, you equip product teams with a full arsenal of tools and environments where they can run the experiments they need to generate qualitative and quantitative user insights
*especially for building digital products
Tell Me A Little About Yourself
- I’m a pretty down-to-earth, Southern-bred guy from North Carolina driven by two great forces:
1) To live as passionate and purpose-driven a life as I can and
2) To accomplish as much as I can within the field of technology – which, I believe, is the defining industry of our time - What that’s translated to, though, from a purely professional lens is a track record over the past 6 1/2 years of helping companies grow by breaking critical ground
- I started as an appointment setter and quickly worked my way up to eventually leading an outbound sales team (in many ways sales found ME)
- And what prior bosses and colleagues will tell you, is that whether it’s a small SaaS platform or a large research organization, I’m a force at winning new revenue,
diversifying customer bases
and helping both my colleagues and our clients really root for our success
Why looking to leave?
- I joined Qualia because I knew from my previous role that the identity-resolution space was heating up as brands and agencies were increasingly seeing this technology as a must-have rather than an outsourcing expense
- Naturally, with such a saturation of companies in the mar-tech space there would be a lot of consolidation and m&a action
- And, honestly, I wanted to be a part of that
- I was at a point in my career where I wanted to test myself and feel what it’s really like to have your work and efforts contribute to a company that’s successfully sold
- And over the last month, partly because of some of the initiatives I spearheaded, that’s exactly what happened as we were acquired by a seminal data-technology firm
- But I’m full of youthful energy and hungry for more success, so I’m hunting for my next big opportunity to build on what I’ve learned
What are you looking for in your next role?
- I’m looking to be a part of something that’s really going to transform its space because of its uniqueness
- even set the bar for others to follow
- What I’m after is the ability to meaningfully contribute to that growth story, to be a force that helps to make that happen
- On a practical level, I think this means a company that can tap into my specialized experience of selling underdog products into enterprise businesses,
building consensus across an organization and
leading those tough strategic conversations with C-Level leaders - From my conversations about Alpha, and all the research I’ve been doing so far, there is no doubt that I recognize those key elements here
(which is why I’m grateful to have this conversation)
Tell Me About Qualia
- Not sure how familiar you are with the space but Qualia delivers what’s called consumer identity-resolution technology
- Essentially, we solve for one of the most expensive and resource-exhausting challenges in the eco-system:
- The inability to recognize a consumer as he/she switches between different screens, devices, user personas and browsing environments throughout the day
*Our machine-learning intelligence plugs into your digital audience data to connect a site visitor or user back to all additional devices he or she might use as part of their purchasing process.
This enables you to you can make better decisions about how you target or influence them
Who do you typically work with?
- Because a huge part of my job is having conversations about something that is both highly technical and also very sensitive to a company: namely their audience identity
- I’m responsible for a lot of consensus-building
- This means that I touch the CTO, CMO, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Head of Data and Analytics, but also the Head of Digital Marketing, and Consumer Insights team
- I’m often talking to about 3 teams on average at a single company
Some clients?
- Banks: BNY Mellon, Capital One, SoFi
- E-commerce: Air BnB, StitchFix
- Fintech Companies: Prosper, LendingClub, Marlette Funding
- Several consulting companies: Axiom, BCG
Sales Style?
*Well, I think first and foremost, there is a distinct philosophy at the core of me that defines what I do.
*And that is, I don’t see sales as just a transactional experience where I’m pushing a product
*I see it instead as an opportunity to develop a human connection where I’m genuinely trying to help you be more of an asset to your company
*And so whether it’s selling to the folks at Univision or a team at Time Inc, I actively choose to not be some buzzword-happy mouthpiece and lead instead with questions that I know these folks are responsible for answering every day:
Where is the value of our business migrating to?
What blind-spots are we not covering?
Where can we win against our competition?
*Genuinely connecting with them, I’ve found, allows them to articulate why they need to work with you
*And it also creates evangelists of your brand in the marketplace
Strength?
- It may sound like a crazy answer but honestly it’s the way I communicate with clients, and the way I speak to them
- When you have a genuine interest in something – including an intellectual fascination with it – you can speak from a place of conviction and authenticity
- Having that as a starting point and as the overall energy of your meetings allows people to see that you are authentically trying to help them and work together with them
Weakness?
marketsmith example
