Tune in for a conversation with the man, the myth, the legend, Bill Binch, Operating Partner at Battery Ventures and former sales executive at Marketo, on what it really takes to build high-performing sales teams in today’s AI-driven world.
From hiring for the right sales mindset to building customer-focused teams and scalable sales processes, Bill shares hard-earned lessons from decades of leading and advising top SaaS companies. He breaks down how founders can make smarter sales hires, why continuous learning separates great leaders from the rest, and how AI is reshaping the future of selling.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Overview of the Conversation
03:05 A Day in the Life of an Operating Partner
05:57 Sales Hiring Challenges and Strategies
11:37 Identifying the Right Sales DNA
17:50 The Importance of Value Selling
23:52 Building a Sales Process in Early-Stage Companies
29:47 Adapting to AI in Sales
35:42 Success Signals for New Sales Hires
41:37 Navigating Stale Deals and Customer Relationships
References in the Show:
https://hbr.org/2025/09/how-successful-sales-teams-are-embracing-agentic-ai
Quote of the Show:
"I wish I could write the one-size-fits-all book on your first sales hire or your first five sales hires and what order they should be. Should it be a sales rep? Should it be a sales leader? Should you have sales engineers? What should you have? What shouldn't you have? But I don't think that exists because it really depends on a number of different factors.” - Bill Binch
Ways to Tune In: