Hi I’m Sidney from Sydney — an entrepreneur, speaker and advisor.

I’m assembling a new team of interns and graduates to work with me in driving growth in my businesses (Contexti.com, SalesNative.com) and a couple of other projects in the pipeline.

You will have an interest and basic capabilities in one or more of the following areas:

• Written Content, Photo, Video, Voice, Graphics, Design, Web, Email, Social Media

As part of a team, you’ll be involved in:

• Strategy, Research, Planning, Creation, Editing, Publishing, Measurement and overall Project Management

I value character over skills and experience so at first I’m looking for spark, good energy and a strong sense of ownership.

What’s in it for you

• Accelerated learning & growth — you’ll be thrown in the deep end, have lots of projects, with variety of challenges;
• Mentorship & Guidance — while you will get to take ownership of outcomes you will not be alone, you will be guided and supported by me and other members of my team;
• Connections — you will have opportunities to network, connect and build relationships with customers, partners and team across a variety of businesses;
• Flexibility — we’re focused on outcomes so open to flexible work hours and work arrangements.

How to apply

Send me an email at team@salesnative.com

In the subject include the following hashtag: #marketingteam

In the message include:

• A summary of your current skills and experience that would be relevant to what I’m trying to achieve.
• Links to published work you have completed or have contributed to.
• BONUS: surprise me with something creative in your application.

I asked my guests on the SalesNative Podcast ……

What sales advice would you give yourself if you were starting over?

Here’s what they came up with:

1. Stop selling and try to figure out what people want to buy, because people love buying. Colin Weir - Moroku
2. Instead of thinking about your product, think about where your customer needs to be in 3 years time. Rinat Sadykov - Cozitrip
3. Cut down your pitch, quickly demonstrate your product, then spend most of your time on answering your prospects questions. James Lau -Xempli
4. You don’t necessarily need to build the full product to start selling. Sell the MVP, learn from customers and improve your product. Alex Saroyan - Alex Saroyan
5. Be as super curious about people as much as you are about technology. Listening to people’s stories is a great way to connect. Tim Clipsham - Good Software Co
6. An authentic relationship with your customer and your subject matter expertise will trump the slickest sales or marketing material. Elliott Spira - GorillaStack
7. Hiring a sales team is a waste of time & money if as the founder you’ve not validated the real (not theoretical) value your product delivers. Meruzhan Danielyan - Teamable
8. Forget about the money. Be good with people, understand their problems and try to help them. Sales will naturally follow. Rafayel Ghasabyan - RAFA Solutions
9. Be a hunter of problems. Engage in discussions that are about identifying problems because ultimately that’s the only thing that will precede presenting any type of solution. Gil Snir - Bench
10. Sales is like treating a patient. You have to understand their problems, you have to get down to their level and it’s all about communication. Dr Raghav Murali-Ganesh - CancerAid
11. Look for sales that have value beyond the dollars. Those that allow you to take a journey with your customer and allow your team to get exposure and learning of a new industry. Regi Wahyu - Dattabot
12. Always have your radar 100% open to all the incentives that are at play. It will help you navigate through conversations, objections and blocks. Phil Hayes-St Clair - Inkl
13. Look for win-win solutions. You need to win and your customer needs to win. Pushing stuff on people does not work. Silvia Pfeiffer - Coviu
14. Before your product is ready to sell, build a community and establish yourself as an expert in that community. Karthik Reddy - Bang the Table
15. Educate yourself in the science of sales. A brilliant product is not enough, you need to get it to market. Michaela Wessel - Style Arcade Software
16. Nothing beats just getting on the phone with real people. Don’t wait for the perfect sales script, just get on the phone and with each call evolve your script. Will Davies - Car Next Door
17. Don’t be afraid to ask the crucial question early in your sales process, which is : “What will it take for you to become a customer?” Steli Efti -Close.io
18. Sales is a continuous journey of validation, requiring you to ask the right questions, listen and understand. Nigel Hembrow - Astronaut
19. Polish your pitch, be knowledgeable, put yourself forward and commit to the market you want to play in. Trena Blair - FD Global Connections
20. Get away from the tools and get in front of the customer as soon as possible then look at how you can reduce the friction to make it real easy for the customer to buy from you. Damir Cuca - Basiq
21. Keep talking to your customer and ask them, “What could we be doing better?”. David Walsh - CIM Enviro
22. Understand the difference between technology, product and business model and understand which of these your audience is interested in. Alicia Asin - Libelium
23. Be data-driven in your sales approach and start collecting metrics from day one. Vikas Jha - Alore CRM
24. Have the courage to ask for clarity of who’s who in the zoo, what their interest is, what their timeline is, what their budget is, to avoid any surprises along the way. Iain Griffin- Seatfrog
25. Focus first on your people, because happy employees will make for happy customers and happy customers will make for better sales. Joanna Wyganowska - Be Human

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

If you enjoyed this, check out:

• 10 Sales Essentials For Tech Founders
• 590 Sales Bootcamp For Tech Founders
• Subscribe to the SalesNative Podcast (Web, iTunes, Stitcher)

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Which of the #SalesTips struck a chord with you and why?

I’d love to see your comments and questions below.

The world is full of intelligent, hard working first-time tech founders, whose vision and products have the potential to transform lives, industries and countries.

But unfortunately many of these founders will never reach their potential as they don’t have the right sales mindset, know-how and connections.

Some tech founders have business co-founders, some live in major tech cities like Silicon Valley where the ecosystem will carry them and some will get into reputable accelerator programs where the mentors and connections will guide them through.

But what about the rest?

Launching SalesNative

SalesNative is a sales training and coaching company serving first-time tech founders.

From your first sale to your best sale, our mission is to enable you to create and capture value.

Our calling is to provide sales inspiration, training and coaching to first-time tech founders wherever they may be in the world, enabling them to reach their potential, make an impact and leave their legacy.

Our Beliefs

With the battle scars from previously founding multiple tech companies and with the insights from working with hundreds of other founders, SalesNative was founded on a handful of core beliefs:

1. Even if tech founders don’t consider themselves natural salespeople, they still need to sell in order to succeed;
2. Sales is not a dirty word, it’s a value exchange, meaning we must create and capture value;
3. Enabling tech founders to sell is more valuable than ‘doing sales for them’;
4. Sales mindset, principles and frameworks are more important than short term tactics and temporary growth hacks; and
5. There are no silver bullets, sales success comes from taking action, learning deeply and adapting quickly.

For Your Journey

SalesNative Podcast — Tech Founders Talk Sales

Tech founders share their most valuable sales lessons.

Gil Snir — Bench

10 Sales Essentials For First Time Tech Founders

With the battle scars from previously founding multiple tech companies and with the insights from working with hundreds of other tech founders on their sales and go-to-market strategies, this short talk covers the 10 Sales Essentials For First-Time Tech Founders.

590 Sales Bootcamp For Tech Founders

A step-by-step guide to growing sales.
Based on the proven 590 Sales Model (strategy, tactics, goals, retro).
Access to templates, worksheets & real-world examples.
Delivered over 3 outcome-based sessions with 30 short sharp bite-sized video lessons.

We wish you success and remember……

You’re Just One Sale Away!

I was recently interviewed by Phil Hayes-St Clair on his Founder to Founder #podcast.

I talked about:

• Resilience
• Learning from failure
• The value of owning and accepting outcomes
• The recovery process between ventures and how to reflect, recoup and rebuild
• Why building a venture is all about people
• Looking for scalable, repeatable business models
• The Contexti origin story — positioning as a niche player in the emerging Big Data industry.

I’m excited to announce the launch of my latest initiative, SHOW INNOVATION, an online video and podcast show featuring Australian innovators from Startup, Enterprise, Government and Not-for-Profit sectors.

“When it comes to innovation, we have a tremendous amount of world-class talent and achievements right here in Australia. It’s time to shine the light on our progress, inspire the next generation and accelerate our journey to becoming a globally relevant innovation leader.”

Guests on the show share their stories, strategies and lessons on disruption, innovation and impact and discuss a broad range of important topics including:

• the distinctions between invention, innovation and entrepreneurship;

• finding your purpose and being values led;

• customer discovery, validation and lean startup;

• openness and collaboration in leadership;

• ecosystem dynamics and where we fall short;

• the role of government;

• venture capital and funding;

• innovation and corporate venture funds;

• women in leadership and women in technology;

• role and responsibility of Board of Directors; and

• cultural mindsets and change management in large enterprise.

The first 21 episodes feature:

1. Paul Galland — Founder, FlipSide Enterprise Services
2. Catherine Stace — CEO Cure Brain Cancer Foundation & Co-Founder Switch Festival
3. Jason Millett — CIO & Transformation Leader
4. Samuel Tait — Managing Partner at I/O
5. Dr James Chin Moody — Founder & CEO of Sendle
6. Phil Hayes-St Claire — CEO & Co-Founder AirShr
7. Justin Babet — Co-Founder & CEO of Jobvibe
8. Lachlan Heussler — Managing Director Spotcap Australia
9. Will Scully-Power — Managing Director of Datarati, Executive Director of Data Scouts, Co-Founder of Vision Board VR
10. Lauren Fried Founder & MD of Pulse Marketing
11. Andrew Reid — GM, Data Analytics and Insights, TEG
12. Dr Ian Oppermann — Chief Data Scientist at the NSW Data Analytics Centre
13. Simon Blyth — Founder & CEO of LX Group
14. Phoebe Adams — Co-Founder & CEO of Our Little Foxes
15. Victor Dominello — Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation
16. Tony Surtees — Co-Founder & Board Member of Zeetings
17. Kevin Bloch — CTO at Cisco
18. Selwyn D`Souza — Cognoscenti @Cognaissance
19. Karthik Reddy — Tech Co-Founder & CTO, Matthew Crozier — Co-Founder & CEO of Bang the Table
20. Nick Abrahams — Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright & Investor in LawPath
21. Colin Weir — CEO Moroku

About SHOW INNOVATION

SHOW INNOVATION is an online show featuring Australian innovators from Startup, Enterprise, Government and Not for Profit sectors who share their stories, strategies and lessons on disruption, innovation and impact.

Follow @ShowInnovation and learn more at SHOWINNOVATION.com.

About SIDNEY MINASSIAN

Sidney Minassian is the Founder & CEO of Contexti, Australia’s premier Big Data Analytics company, the Founder & Host of SHOW INNOVATION and an international Advisor and Speaker on #strategy #innovation #startups #growth & #digital.

Follow @SidneyMinassian and learn more at SidneyMinassian.com.

As a Data Scientist, you are currently in high demand and in a hot market. That is not about to change any time soon.

So on the one hand, you can ignore this article.

Yet on the other hand, given the 40+ big data projects we’ve delivered for Contexti clients, we’ve had a lot of interactions with Data Scientists inside companies of varying sizes and industries and my observation is that Data Scientists are leaving value on the table for themselves and are therefore limiting their career and leadership trajectories.

There are probably a number of reasons for this, but primarily it’s because Data Scientists are allowing themselves to be pigeonholed into being ‘just the data person’.

You will have greater value as a Data Scientist when:

• you have established credibility BEYOND being just the data person
• you get a seat at the strategic table to discuss the business and customer context; and
• your efforts result in measurable impact on the organisation
  So here are 7 ways you can increase your value as Data Scientist:

#1 Know the business

When you are on the ‘same page’ as the business you will engender a deeper level of conversation, you will ask better questions, you will push back on the right issues and overall you will command the respect of your colleagues beyond your analytics brilliance. You should know and be able to quickly articulate key business and profit details such as:

• what industry you are in;
• what are the top performing product / service lines;
• what are your best channels to market;
• who are your primary customers;
• who are your most strategic partners (and why? what’s in it for them);
• who are your biggest competitors and what is their strategic or competitive advantage;
• who are your likely unexpected competitors and
  who is going to disrupt you or your industry externally ◦ etc

#2 Get to know your Customer’s Customer

Don’t settle with just understanding the ‘Marketing’, ‘Risk’, ‘Operations’ departments as your customers. While they may be your direct customers, you should also care to learn about your customer’s customer. Who are they serving? Request that you join your customer when they meet with their customers, this will give you another level of context, perspective and depth in understanding the ‘end customer’. By getting to know your customer’s customer, you will think differently about the problem you are solving and you will have a different conversation and create a higher level of rapport with your direct customer.

#3 Beyond the WHAT and the HOW…. Ask WHY

It’s easy to jump into problem solving mode. The question is are you solving the right problems? Often you’ll have clarity on ‘What’ you need to do and given your skills you’ll know the ‘How’. To increase your relevance and value, make sure you are also clear on the ‘WHY’. By understanding the ‘Why’ you will think creatively about the problem and solution — if you understand the ‘why’ you may recognise you’ve been tasked with the incorrect ‘what’. Even the conversation of the ‘why’ will help build trust between you and the people you are collaborating with. •

#4 Step away from the data

To get context and perspective, step away from the data, models and charts and put yourself in position to observe what you are meant to be measuring or solving in its physical form. Things beyond the numbers will jump out at you that can dictate the success or failure of your solutions. Certain industry nuances, the political landscape of the organisation, the organisation’s readiness to adopt change, culture and values, the user experience and the customer journey will all give you greater levels of insight beyond the numbers.

#5 Seek the ACTION

The best insights, not executed will create zero value. So in addition to understanding the ‘why’, seek to understand the ‘actions’ that will be taken given your insights. Often this will be outside of your domain or direct sphere of influence and that is exactly the point. To move beyond being ‘just the data person’ you should seek clarity (accountability) from your colleagues on what will be done with your insights, in what time frame and how you and your colleagues will be informed about the impact.

#6 Build bridges with people

The right team composition is critical to ensure success with data projects. In addition to Data Scientists you need customer advocates, subject matter experts, platform architects, platform engineers, data engineers, platform administrators, marketing/operations/risk/legal experts etc. So as a Data Scientist, build relationships with these colleagues, they are all important contributors to delivering success. You will learn from them, you will teach them and most importantly you will have established a bridge, which will raise your value.

#7 Over-Communicate

We often hear Data Scientists need to be ‘story tellers’, often this is only interpreted as ‘story telling with the numbers’. I suggest that you should not to wait for just the ‘story with the numbers’ part of the project before you find your voice. It’s important to bring people on the journey and you can do this by communicating (over communicating). Share with them your understanding of the ‘business’, your knowledge of the ‘customer’s customer’, the ‘why’ of what you are working on, the insights you gained by ‘stepping away from the numbers’ and how you expect the your insights to be turned into ‘actions’ to deliver value. Share with people your experimentations, your success, failures and learnings. You will learn from their feedback and corrections, you will build respect with your openness and willingness to share and teach and you will establish your voice in your organisation.

— — — — — — — — — -

Sidney Minassian is the Founder and CEO of Contexti, the Host of SHOW INNOVATION, a Strategic Advisor to business owners & CXOs and an international Keynote Speaker.

Sign up for more insights from Sidney Minassian on Strategy, Innovation, Go-to-Market & Growth.