Today I’m joined by Alexa Grabell, Co-Founder and CEO of Pocus - the product-led sales platform that helps modern go-to-market teams turn product data into revenue.  

Pocus’ mission is to build Product-Led Sales (PLS) technology that transforms how go-to-market teams use data to drive revenue. Customers don't buy software over a steak dinner anymore. No more aggressive selling, no more salespeople blocking their purchasing decisions. Customers want to see the value first-hand by using a product before making a purchase. They only want to engage with salespeople after they realize the value. 

In our discussion today, you’ll hear about Alexa’s passion for opening up more opportunities for women in the tech space, how she helped build and shape the vernacular around PLG and PLS with a growing community of founders and leaders, and her dedication to building her team and hiring carefully and strategically. 

Startup Growth Stories is hosted by Don Muir, CEO and Co-Founder of Arc Technologies. In each weekly episode of this podcast, you’ll hear from first-time, bootstrapped, and unicorn founders around how they secured their first customers, convinced their first employees to join, and grew their business. Founders and industry insiders share their greatest successes (and failures) and the things they learned along the way. In the final minutes of each episode, guests get vulnerable - they share very personal stories about the impact of their work on their wellbeing, their relationships and their families.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

[00:47] Who is Alexa Grabel? 

[02:16] Pocus is a product-led sales model that flips traditional sales on its head

[03:08] Founding story: After DataMiner, Alexa went to Stanford and met Don and her co-founder Isaac

[05:25] Alexa did not go to Stanford planning to start a business

[07:18] Return to VC? Alexa says not likely 

[07:55] The specifics of Product-led growth - Experiencing a product before purchasing

[11:00] The new category of product-led sales – building a community from 20 leaders in a slack channel to over 2000 people in the founder community actively interested in adopting the methodology today

[13:00] The future of the product-focused community - more meetups, ambassadors, new ways to connect leaders 

[13:50] Pocus’ recent $20M Series A announcement – how it differed from the seed experience

[15:20] Focusing on the business vs. spending time with investors

[16:16] Extracting value from investors after they write the check - with over 100 investors (two big institutional and lots of angels) there are different relationships with all of them - 90% of investors you have to ask for help, no one is proactively offering advice.

[17:46] Advice you’d give to founders who are looking to grow their business by raising institutional capital? Be clear on why you’re raising and your goals. Do what’s right for you, don’t listen to all the advice out there!

[19:27] Alexa’s personal journey – time management and being very intentional&