Before you continue reading this article, it’s important to ask yourself a few questions.
If you’re a salesperson, would you describe yourself as “gritty”? Not in the sense of personal hygiene, but with regard to putting in the extra effort to recover from a down quarter? For example, have you ever bottomed-out in Q2 only to top the sales leaderboard in Q3?
For marketers: Are you excited by the thought of working in a nascent industry, one with seemingly untapped potential? In practice, this means writing the rules yourself and relying more on your experience and gut feeling than an established playbook.
Customer success managers: Do you take a proactive, consultative approach to client communications? This entails studying up on clients and the industry they’re in with the goal of providing custom recommendations that solve problems before they appear.
It’s important to ask these questions because the New York tech companies featured here are hiring for their go-to-market teams. Helping a company launch a product or enter a new market requires a different skill set from what is required of sellers, marketers and customer success managers at companies experiencing steady, incremental growth.
Continue reading to learn more about what these companies are specifically looking for when it comes to the salespeople, marketers and CSMs they’re hiring right now for their GTM teams.
If Box hired one professional sports mascot to join its sales team, the choice would be Gritty, the lovably goofy mascot of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. The cloud-based content management company’s sales team is growing, and candidates who can successfully communicate how grit has helped them overcome challenges are guaranteed to stand out. Here’s why.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
When I think about the best sales executives I’ve worked with, they all had grit. Grit is a measure of how you respond when things get tough. It’s great to hear about a successful deal or a big win, but I’m more interested in how you persevered through a difficult moment in your professional life and stayed focused on the end goal. I want to hear how you joined a new team, missed your first several quarterly targets, failed repeatedly and then turned it around to blow out your number several years in a row. That’s grit.
When I think about the best sales executives I’ve worked with, they all had grit.”
What’s the biggest priority for Box’s go-to-market teams in 2023, and why is it important for the success of the business as a whole?
We must meet our customers where they are, which specifically means recognizing customers now fall into one of two categories: organizations that exited the pandemic stronger than ever and are still growing or those that are really struggling in the current economic environment. For the first category, we help them be more competitive, accelerate revenue and retain the best talent. For the latter, it’s all about cost consolidation and alleviating pressure on their limited budgets to enable transformational projects.
How would you describe your team culture in a single word, and why would you choose that word?
Trust, because my team simply does not hold back. They learn from each other’s mistakes, call each other to bounce around ideas before a big meeting and share best practices. Most importantly, they keep each other going when things get tough. It takes a lot of confidence to express vulnerability in a high-pressure environment like sales. I’m proud of how my team leans on each other instead of letting the pressure isolate them.
“Go to market” typically refers to taking a product or service to market, which to a marketer means focusing on strategies to acquire customers. That’s not necessarily the case at online gaming and sports betting company Tipico. The company operates in a fiercely competitive industry and is seeking out marketers who are agile and well-versed in retention and building long-lasting relationships with users.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
A desire to be a change agent. We are in a dynamic growth industry, providing online casino games and sports-based gambling products that evolve quickly. Therefore, we hire marketers who will help us authentically connect with our customers and develop relationships. In our industry, the challenge is not customer acquisition but retention, and we need innovators who want to help us grow faster than the competition.
What’s the biggest priority for Tipico’s go-to-market teams in 2023, and why is it important for the success of the business as a whole?
We want to continue to develop our niche product and brand. We want to differentiate Tipico by refining our positioning around key products and developing more thoughtful campaigns. As we move into 2023 and launch in new states and develop new, broader partnerships, we need to continue to grow our brand and increase our reach in the eyes of consumers.
How would you describe your team culture in a single word, and why would you choose that word?
Agility. We are asked to work across so many of our internal teams, and this is what makes work fun — and sometimes challenging — on an everyday basis. But no day is the same: We are all learning together and marketing is at the forefront of what a customer experiences and we embrace challenges together.
E-commerce marketing company Yotpo helps companies grow their direct-to-consumer sales via a variety of solutions, including SMS marketing, subscription services and loyalty and referral programs. The company’s SMS department is currently growing and SMS marketing is a crucial aspect of its 2023 go-to-market strategy, with Yotpo seeking out proactive people who lead with solutions and are committed to strengthening the team’s culture.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
A successful member of the SMS team is organized and takes a proactive approach to client communications. We have so many customers across various verticals and segments; to be a great partner to your customers, you need to know how SMS marketing applies to each unique business. Clients love when we come to them with recommendations. We have playbooks and new feature release documents, and we ultimately act as consultative marketing experts in a way that’s hyper-specific to an individual business’s needs.
A successful member of the SMS team is organized and takes a proactive approach to client communications.”
What’s the biggest priority for Yotpo’s go-to-market teams in 2023, and why is it important for the success of the business as a whole’?
Furthering our personalized approach to SMS marketing. We want to make sure that our brands are taking advantage of new tools and resources when communicating with subscribers. There are a ton of short codes, feature releases and product integrations they can enable to help create more streamlined and expedited experiences for shoppers looking to complete a purchase.
How would you describe your team culture in a single word, and why would you choose that word?
Committed. We’re all super dedicated when it comes to our day-to-day responsibilities but also empowered to help each other grow and create a fulfilling, well-rounded team experience. In addition to our organizational initiatives and goals, we’re committed to strengthening relations through events off the desk that bring us all together. We’re passionate about developing as a business unit, and also about developing a strong interpersonal culture.
Fidel API provides technology that enables companies to tap into real-time payment data to offer consumer rewards, manage employee expense accounts and attribute purchases to specific sources. The company raised a $65 million Series B in April and will use a portion of the funds to grow its sales, partnerships, customer success and marketing teams. Regardless of role, Fidel API prizes candidates with a bias for action.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
We’re carving out our own category in the fintech space, which adds a certain degree of ambiguity and a faster pace to the environment we operate in. Therefore, something we value highly is the fact that everyone brings their own unique perspective, diverse skill set and flair to their team and work.
However, if I had to pick one trait, I’d say a bias toward action. Fidel API offers an incredible opportunity to build, test and learn. This is a gift if you capitalize on it. You need to take chances, test your impact and adapt your approach based on your learnings. This requires a high degree of flexibility, collaboration and measurement in your work but also yields a great deal of fun.
Fidel API offers an incredible opportunity to build, test and learn. This is a gift if you capitalize on it.”
What’s the biggest priority for Fidel API’s go-to-market teams in 2023, and why is it important for the success of the business as a whole?
In 2022, we built the foundation for growth: We raised a Series B, grew the team to over 165 people and launched several new products. Ultimately, all of these efforts feed into unlocking new use cases for developers to build on top of payment data. We have big plans for 2023 centered around three key priorities: drive awareness for our category, brand and product in the market; unlock new go-to-market segments and grow our current customer base and secure new brands.
In addition to expanding sales, partnerships and customer success functions, we’re making a big investment in marketing. Those teams are the tip of the spear in driving demand and new business, but they also partner to identify and unlock opportunities across exploratory products and segments. At Fidel API, you have the unique opportunity to focus on scale and build motions in one role.
How would you describe your team culture in a single word, and why would you choose that word?
Authenticity, which is demonstrated by everyone here. Maintaining a startup mentality and really knowing your colleagues, enjoying their company and sharing a unified mission is rare to see at a company of this size that is going through a period of growth. The authenticity of our culture is reflected in all sorts of ways. From a trust-based approach to workload management, the maximizing of diversity amongst colleagues in hiring and the ambitious approach Fidel API takes to building and launching products across the globe.
Grata is a deal-making platform used by M&A professionals and companies to find under-the-radar small- and medium-sized enterprises that would make the perfect target for an investment, merger or acquisition. Excellence, growth mindset and community are three of the company’s core values, and they directly impact both the candidates its sales team recruits and how that team works together.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
Grata’s company values include “excellence” and “growth mindset,” and we believe a key sales competency that walks right down the middle of these two values is being results-oriented. Proficiency in the results-oriented competency is achieved by deeply investing in your sales processes, your articulation of value and your territory development — all with a clear focus on consistent production. If you can describe your successes in this context, we want you on our growing sales team!
Grata’s company values include ‘excellence’ and ‘growth mindset,’and a key sales competency that walks right down the middle of these two values is being results-oriented.”
What’s the biggest priority for Grata’s go-to-market teams in 2023, and why is it important for the success of the business as a whole?
As we move into 2023, our priority becomes leveraging the scale created in 2022 to produce another year of multi “x” return on results growth. Our focus as a company is creating the best deal-sourcing platform for middle market private companies. As the sales team converts new prospects, we gain even more knowledge into the impact of our offering on customers. This knowledge is funneled right back into our product roadmap and sprint release plan. Sales supports product and product supports sales. It’s a great partnership, and both teams are currently continuing to scale.
How would you describe your team culture in a single word, and why would you choose that word?
Community is the first word that jumps to mind when describing our team, and it’s another core value here at Grata. We have established a fantastic culture of support, celebration and knowledge-sharing. While we are all committed to our own results, there is a genuine effort to improve as a team. This means that our directors and account executives give guidance and support to each other and to our business development representatives team. In return, the BDR team pushes AEs with great effort and energy, thus closing the loop on our supportive, performance-based flywheel.
Stensul’s email collaboration platform is designed to cut down the time it takes to create marketing emails, and it has proven incredibly popular among marketers. The company has recently posted its best revenue figures ever and has plans to double its customer count in 2023. As for the traits you need to secure a seat on this rocket ship, curiosity tops the list, but “garra” is also important.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
Curiosity. Successful candidates have a natural desire to understand something in order to make it better. We apply that in so many ways in solutions consulting. The most obvious application is to understand our prospects and customers so we can propose the right solution and demonstrate value. We also strive to understand how our revenue team works and how we can help everyone achieve their individual goals as well as our overall team goals.
We’re involved in informing product discovery, development, release and improvement. It’s an exciting role that touches many areas of the company and having a sense of wonder helps drive the breadth and depth of a solutions consultant’s impact.
We’re coming off our two biggest revenue quarters ever at a time when many tech companies are having to pull back.”
What’s the biggest priority for Stensul’s go-to-market teams in 2023, and why is it important for the success of the business as a whole?
2023 is about capitalizing on the momentum from 2022 and going even bigger. We’re coming off our two biggest revenue quarters ever at a time when many tech companies are having to pull back. In 2023, we’ll be taking products to market and more than doubling the number of customers using our platform. To do this, we’ll need to be even more focused on hiring but also enabling the teams with proper tools, training and career development.
How would you describe your team culture in a single word, and why would you choose that word?
Garra. This is straight from Stensul’s core values, because I truly believe the culture of my team and every team here is built around this word. Garra is a Spanish word with no perfect English translation, but half of our team is based in Latin America, so it’s really important that our values reflect our multicultural team. Garra can’t be described with one word, so maybe this is cheating, but we define it as heart, hunger and hustle. It’s being relentless in how we show up for our customers and each other and refusing to give up.
Media-measurement platform VideoAmp, which links viewing data from TV, streaming and digital media ad campaigns to sales information, has been on a roll that stretches back years. According to a statement the company put out for its $275 million Series F round in October, its revenue has grown 100 percent year-over-year for the past five years. To keep that growth going, the company is hiring more sellers, although it’s only looking for those with a specific “it” factor.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
The character trait needed to land a spot on our team is someone who puts the “it” in “grit.” Grit encompasses continuous hard work, and the “it” factor comes into play when talent bring the charisma and energy that takes their hard work to the next level. Grit is about the ability to be persistent in something you feel passionate about and persevering when you face obstacles or are performing mundane tasks.
At VideoAmp, we live by our value of “shipping it fast” and are constantly evolving and looking to stay ahead of the market. Our top sellers have a deep passion in what we’re solving for and the solutions we bring to our clients. However, not every day in sales is glamorous, and those who continue to stay disciplined rise to the top.
What’s the biggest priority for VideoAmp’s go-to-market teams in 2023, and why is it important for the success of the business as a whole?
We’re providing a business need that many brands and agencies are looking to solve for, and the market is asking for more! With the growing demand, our goal is to continue expanding our efforts and hire top talent in markets where we have so much opportunity to grow, like the West Coast, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast. We’re going to continue building the team and focusing on providing more incremental value for our clients with our advanced cross-screen measurement capabilities. Our goal is to truly prove the impact of a brand’s cross-screen buys so agencies can better optimize their campaigns in-flight to drive efficiencies for their brands.
I was a division one college gymnast and VideoAmp is the first place that translated to my experience of being on a team that always pushed each other to be better.”
How would you describe your team culture in a single word, and why would you choose that word?
Competitive. We are all competitors and want not just to win but to dominate. I was a division one college gymnast and was always chasing the perfect 10. When I joined VideoAmp, it was the first place that I felt translated to my experience of being on a team that always pushed each other to be better, whether that’s personally, such as with health and wellness, or with regard to getting to the top of the sales leaderboard.
What I enjoy most about VideoAmp is that we have healthy, collaborative competition with one another. Our competitive advantage is the way we complement each other and come together as a team, all with the same mission and passion. This is a place that will continue to challenge you and where you’ll grow your skill set in a way and time frame you never thought possible. It truly feels like a family here, the kind that helps you be your best day in and out.
