Hunter Pawloff

Kaltura Q2 2024 Earnings: Revenue of $44M, flat YoY; GAAP Net loss was $10M. Expects Q3 revenue to be flat to down 2% YoY to $42.6M - $43.3M. Full year 2024 revenue guidance of $174.7M - $176.7M, which would be flat to up 1% over full year 2023 revenue. Earnings release: https://lnkd.in/e58Um7Nu - Kaltura #kaltura

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Who’s ✈️ headed to eTail™ East’s 25th anniversary conference in Boston on 8/12? I’ll be there representing Zip Co! Let’s connect and chat 💬 about the current BNPL landscape, innovative 💡products/solutions on the horizon at Zip, plus BNPL growth strategies 📈 that major brands are using today, like: 1. How BNPL fits in the payments stack 2. Preventing BNPL from cannibalizing PLCC 3. How to promote BNPL customers into PLCC holders and loyalty members 4. Personalizing payment offerings and tailoring them to the right customer set 5. Incremental growth Vs tender exchange 6. The overlooked customer set: (aka 33% equal to 100M+ Americans) 7. New CFPB regulations on BNPL 8. Protecting consumers against predatory and expensive LTO options 9. Reducing cost of payment acceptance And more! (NFL 2025 Super Bowl predictions anyone?) #eTail #BNPL #ecommerce #retail #consumerfinance #Zip #BuyNowPayLater #eTail25 #retailtech #eTailBoston #payments #omnichannel #Partnerships #Enterprisesales

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PE investors / operators: have "hire additional sales capacity" on your VCP or annual plan? HIRING new reps is only half the battle. For the ROI math to math, gotta then make 'em productive. As quickly as possible. But when it comes to making reps productive quickly, B2B companies face two big challenges: →The average tenure of a B2B sales rep is less than two years, YET... → Reps hit their peak performance two to three years in. Translation: Most reps leave before they’ve reached max productivity. Eek. In many cases, weak sales onboarding is to blame. But taking a more intentional approach to sales onboarding has a bevy of obvious benefits: • Reducing sales turnover • Shortening time-to-revenue • Higher odds of achieving your rev targets Hit on this in the book in Winning Move #32, but check out the vid below for a deeper dive on the P's and Q's of sales onboarding ▶️ * * * * * Found this helpful? Plenty more where that came from. Check out the Winning Moves Platform: the ambitious PE leader's toolkit for accelerating value creation. ↳ A digital arsenal of resources, how-to's, and tools to help private equity leaders make value-generating Winning Moves with confidence. Link in the comments below. ⤵️

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Most sales leaders focus on their top performers. But your best reps will crush quota whether you help them or not. Here's the uncomfortable truth about scaling revenue... Your top 10% will succeed despite you. They'll figure out how to sell your product and close deals even if you give them zero support, no collateral, and an undefined ICP. But you can't build a scalable revenue engine on top 10% talent alone. It's just math. Even with a rigorous interview process and strong recruiting brand, our 12-month retention rate at Levelset was around 55%. And that was GOOD. The key to scaling isn't finding more unicorns. It's raising the floor for everyone else. That means writing down exactly what success looks like. Not just hoping good people will "figure it out." I learned this the hard way. For the first 4 years (or so), we closed deals almost in spite of ourselves. No real sales playbook. No defined process. Just talented people working hard. When we finally documented our exact process - from first touch to close - our ramp time plummeted and consistency shot up. The uncomfortable truth? Most founders spend way more time recruiting than preparing to train and support their hires. Your playbook doesn't need to be fancy. Start with one document: "How to Run a Demo." Make it painfully detailed. Your top reps will hate it. Your new reps will love you for it.

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Want a FREE 30 minute deal coaching session with me? Don't mean to brag but... My deal coaching tends to help reps close more deals at higher deal values. Here's how you can be in with a chance to get some face time with me this month. Join the next #Salesblazer Coffee Chat on tomorrow! Here’s how to participate: 1. Join the hashtag #july-2-coffee-chat channel in the Salesblazer Community on Slack. Not a member yet? Join here: https://sforce.co/43G1GEu 2. Ask your questions in the channel above before the coffee chat starts. 3. You’ll be notified to join the huddle when it kicks off July 2 @ 11am PT / 1pm ET. 4. Grab your favourite "it's still work hours" beverage and join as soon as you’re notified — capacity is limited, and it’s first come, first served. The person who asks the BEST question will get a free deal coaching session with me this month. See you there!

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From "economic hurricane" to this... 👇🏻 It's not uncommon to be wrong twice. 😉 https://lnkd.in/eiasrvwB Tabrasa mortgage market guide

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Here are the top 3 challenges smaller fintech companies face when accessing credit bureau data: 1. You're too small to be a priority. A $30,000 annual deal might be a big deal for your startup, but it's just a drop in the bucket for major credit bureaus. They're busy keeping their big fish happy - think Wells Fargo and JP Morgan - not worrying about smaller players like you. 2. You're hitting a wall with innovation. Got a game-changing fintech idea? Too bad you can't easily get your hands on the data you need to make it happen. The big bureaus aren't exactly bending over backwards to help the little guys. 3. You're finding it tough to keep up. Without easy access to credit data, how can you possibly compete with the big financial institutions? It's like trying to run a race with your shoelaces tied together. But here's something you might not have thought about... API aggregators could be your secret weapon. They offer: 1. A smoother onboarding process (because who doesn't want less headache?) 2. Potentially lower costs (thanks to bulk pricing) 3. Access to multiple bureaus through a single API (talk about killing two birds with one stone!) The bottom line: For startups and smaller fintechs, API aggregators can help level the playing field. They give you a fighting chance to compete in the financial services world without the hassle of dealing directly with bureaus. So, here's what I'm wondering... How much longer are you going to let data access problems hold back your brilliant ideas? The fintech world isn't slowing down for anyone. Time's ticking. Maybe it's time to check out your options?

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Most sales and QBR decks look like an amateur put them together.  That is likely because the AE/SE/CSM did 98% of the content. I have reviewed over 500 sales/qbr decks this year. There are an average of 4 very nice corporate slides and 25 that look like Cookie Monster made them. If you sell to mid market+ accounts, hire a slide designer.  It’ll cost you a couple thousand dollars a year and it will make you stand WAY out compared to your competition.

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Curious about how we spot the most unobvious winners at seed? It’s simple - we invest in those we’d never want to bet against. In 2017 slice was a scrappy fintech financing smartphones for college students. Today, it’s set to become India’s first true digital bank, catering to the needs of India’s Gen Z. With this merger, Slice is poised to simplify digital banking for a billion Indians, establishing a new gold standard of customer-focused banking.

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Regulatory Scrutiny in the Age of Neobanks: What You Need to Know About ILC Charters You’ve probably heard the buzz—Industrial Loan Company (ILC) charters are returning. And if you haven’t, it’s time to sit up and take notice. With the FDIC approving new ILC charters in 2024, this once-overlooked banking model is quickly becoming a hot topic. Everyone from fintechs to retail giants is eyeing the potential, but it’s not all smooth sailing. Why? Because regulators have their magnifying glasses out, and they’re watching closely. So, what’s the big deal with ILCs? Imagine you’re running a non-bank company but want to offer financial services without going all-in on a traditional banking license. That’s where the ILC comes in—it gives you the freedom to dip your toes in the banking world, minus the mountain of regulations. Sounds great, right? Well, it is… until the regulators step in. Here’s the reality: the FDIC’s approvals in 2024 are a game-changer, but with great opportunity comes even greater scrutiny. Regulators are laser-focused on bank-fintech partnerships, especially with neobanks shaking up the traditional finance space. They’re concerned about risks and how these partnerships might destabilize the financial system. And with more companies chasing an ILC charter, the pressure is on to get it right. Are you thinking about pursuing an ILC charter for your business? Here’s what you need to know before you dive in. First, it’s not an easy path. You must satisfy strict capital requirements, ensure solid governance, and put customer protection at the forefront. And regulators? They’ll be looking over your shoulder every step of the way. So, if you’re not ready to play by the rules, you could be in for some severe headaches—or worse, regulatory backlash. Bottom line: ILC charters offer massive potential for businesses wanting to offer financial services without becoming full-fledged banks. But don’t be fooled—it’s a delicate balance, and you’ll need to stay sharp on the regulatory front to avoid stumbling. Want to stay ahead of the curve and navigate these changes like a pro? Let’s talk about how to keep your business on track and in compliance. And if you’re ready to dive deeper into how banking licenses like these are reshaping the landscape, grab my book How Private Banking Licenses are Driving Exponential Growth for the full scoop on turning regulation into opportunity. Here is the link: https://lnkd.in/gnYYGTJD

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There are two ways to solve gaps in signal-based selling. Only one is guaranteed to work at scale. 1) Revenue Enablement Provide continuous training for (a) every new hire who joins a team and (b) every 6 months to refresh reps on essential information, workflows, and processes. Many factors can impact the effectiveness of enablement activities (from the comprehensiveness of training materials to the trainer’s institutional knowledge, to how closely the individual reps were paying attention that day). Enablement only becomes harder as more people and processes are added to the mix because there are so many moving parts. 2) Revenue Operations Through automation, RevOps can reduce gaps — especially from human error — that cause friction or inaction among reps. Specifically, end-to-end automation. Most common “automations” in signal-based selling usually don’t go far enough. Therefore teams are overly reliant on enablement touchpoints to stay aligned. Ex: A champion moves to a new role and this is automatically updated in Salesforce This automation gets the process from point A to point B, but still relies on multiple human touches from B to Z. End-to-end automation ensures that essential tasks throughout an entire workflow are set up to keep the process moving toward an end goal. It anticipates gaps and opportunities for human error from point A to point Z (meeting booked). Ex: A champion moves to a new role, the CRM record is updated, a rep is notified, and a multi-step persona-specific email sequence is triggered. Would every rep follow this process if it was entirely manual (even with enablement training)? Probably not. That’s why every signal play should be accompanied by clear workflows enabled with end-to-end automation. The play can scale with your team. Signals without action are just noise for reps. Automation guarantees signals get actioned.

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🚨 Breaking News 🚨 Wells Fargo's partnership with Bilt Rewards, a fintech startup allowing users to pay rent with a credit card without fees, has attracted over 1 million customers, but it's costing the bank millions 💸 🤯 Did you know? Wells Fargo is losing up to $10M each month due to incorrect assumptions about how new clients would use the cards. Cardholders are stacking up reward points without carrying balances forward, and the bank pays fees for each rent transaction 📈 💬 "Following our co-brand card's successful launch in 2022, we have been impressed by the early traction and growth and we are committed to a long-term partnership with Wells Fargo that benefits all parties, most importantly — our customers." - Bilt 💬 📊 Key stats: - 70% of Bilt cardholders are new Wells Fargo customers - Average cardholder age: 31 - Average credit score: 760 🤝 Despite the losses, Wells Fargo plans to continue working with Bilt, aiming for a win-win for both parties. Stay tuned for more updates on this partnership 💼 #WellsFargo #BiltRewards #Fintech #CreditCards #Partnership #FinancialNews

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Maintain a sufficient pipeline of 4 times your quota. Adequate pipeline helps to relieve the stress to perform on specific deals. Reduced stress allows you to approach sales as a competitive game and a fun challenge. Do not take success per deal personally. Treat each deal as a competitive contest you can walk away from proud of knowing you gave your best effort. Building relationships with your customers is the fun part of sales. Ask personal questions. Invest time to learn about your customers as humans. Personal relationships require empathy, time, and patience. Extra credit challenge: Getting a hug from your customer confirms you have a personal relationship. Credit to Drew Elam

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What are your thoughts on seeing their deals mapped out in a deal velocity scorecard? This is part of the performance dashboard we're building for MidFunnel. The idea is that sellers can see how their deals are faring. Managers can quickly get a pulse on deal progress. The velocity is calculated based on the responsiveness of communication. Next we're considering adding qualitative insights on prospect eagerness as well. #sales #sales-tech

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The Wolf of Wallstreet on selling. It is not to hard in the end.... but I still would argue the majority of sales people gets it wrong. To sell: - You rather listen vs talk - You understand the requirements of your customer - You are authentic - You are interested and curious and as a founder you need to be a sales person - you need to sell to employees, customers, investors..... #vc #venturecapital #founder #startup

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"The ice is beginning to melt on what was a wintry period" - Laura Bock, partner at QED Investors ☃ In Q1 2024, venture capital funding for payments startups was 85% down year on year, marking a six-year low. This sharp decline reflects a broader trend of decreased investments across the fintech sector. 🙁 HOWEVER...... 👇 Surely this will soon change with favourable structural and technological tailwinds opening up exciting opportunities around the topics of account to account payments and payment authentication. PSD3 is going to be a turboboost for open banking kicking off a whole new wave of innovation and value-added services. 🚀 https://lnkd.in/d_c_At8V So place your bets if you dare. What will be the hot topic in the payments that will kick off the next VC bull run in the space? 🤷‍♂️ #VentureCapital #PaymentsIndustry #Fintech #Innovation #StartupGrowth #A2A #Account2Account #Payments #psd2 #psd3 #fraudprevention

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Shelter/Rent make up over 50% of headline CPI/PCE inflation readings and over 2/3 of Core CPI and PCE. So- if we want to see lower inflation, and numbers more in line with the Fed's target - then shelter/rent must come down. Well 👇🏻 If this recent increase in rental vacancy rates is the start of a new trend higher - which it seems with the abundance of rental supply hitting the markets, then inflation will be lower. More supply than demand creates disinflationary and even deflationary (outright price declines) forces. Tabrasa mortgage market guide

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"When is the right time to hire your first sales leader?" I sat down with Eric Boduch, Founder of 24 and Up, CEO of Revcast, and co-founder of Pendo.io, to discuss the key signals every founder should look for before making this critical hire. Check out Episode 449 of The Full Ratchet for his expert insights! Link to the full episode is in the comment section below.

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Great night with Headline: Fintech Panel Series💸 1) Despite the advances in digital payments, hundreds of millions of dollars continue to be processed through checks, representing roughly 20% of BILL transaction volume. 2) Given the well-established ACH infrastructure, consumer preferences still dominate the market. The key to winning in the fintech space today is creating a superior user interface (UI). Fintech companies are intensely focused on developing the best UI. 3) At Workee, we’ve encountered this as well - All big players are building ways to make money happen locally while swift remains the biggest system in the world yet. Thank you Henrique Ceribelli King Goh, CFA Matt Schrey Michelle F. and Headline for this event. #Fintech #Payments #Innovation #ConsumerTrends #EmbeddedPayments

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