James Kaikis currently serves as the Head of Go-To-Market and Chief Solutions Officer at TestBox, an innovative company revolutionizing the way buyers interact with product demos. Before his tenure at TestBox, James co-founded the PreSales Collective with Yuji Higashi. Under their leadership, the community became a pivotal resource in the presales domain until its successful acquisition in November 2021. James also has a rich history in solution-oriented leadership roles at prominent companies including Salesforce and Showpad.
Discussed in this Episode:
The power of presales in driving revenue growth and customer success
Strategies for scaling a community-based business from zero to millions
The future of B2B software demos and how TestBox is leading the charge
Lessons learned from a successful startup exit in just 18 months
Insights on go-to-market strategy, product-led growth, and customer-centricity
Highlights:
6:05 - Bootstrapping a community-based business to multi-million dollar revenue.
8:35 - Secrets behind PreSales Collective's rapid growth and successful exit.
11:05 - Transitioning from founder to Chief Solutions Officer at TestBox.
13:35 - The future of B2B software demos and TestBox's innovative approach.
18:35 - The untapped potential of presales in driving revenue growth.
21:05 - Balancing product-led growth with customer-centricity.
23:35 - Lessons learned from building, scaling, and exiting a successful startup.
28:35 - The importance of aligning presales, sales, and customer success.
31:05 - James' vision for the future of presales and B2B software demos.
33:35 - Advice for entrepreneurs and revenue leaders looking to drive growth.
45:05 - One thing revenue leaders believe to be true that James thinks is bull$***.
48:09 - One thing that is working for James in go-to-market right now.
Guest Speaker Links (James Kaikis):
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameskaikis/
Host Speaker Links (Scott Barker):
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ssbarker/
Newsletter: thegtmnewsletter.substack.com/
Sponsors:
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The GTM Podcast
Features conversations with well-known tech executive, VC, and founders - the expert operators in the trenches who have ‘been there, done that’ to build some of the fastest-growing software companies. Every week, a guest joins Scott Barker to dissect their stories, revealing expert insights around what worked, what didn’t, and how things actually went down.
This podcast is produced by GTMnow, the media brand of VC firm GTMfund - sharing insight on go-to-market from working with hundreds of portfolio companies backed by over 350 of the best go-to-market executives.
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