You need the Navy Seals

Behind Enemy Lines:

The battle fought by a startup technology company is guerilla warfare.  The thought of attacking where the enemy is weak and not strong has already been discussed…but our reality was the early sales teams in young companies are non traditional warriors.  The company had 2 SE’s and 2 Sales people when I showed up…one of the sales guys had been there 4 days longer than me – I was lucky Frank Slootman hired Matt Jacobs…he ended up being the guy I wished I had more people like.

When I started to my initial profile was very wrong:

-       storage sales experience 3-5+ years

-       major account selling experience

I was looking for infantry people…

Oops – what I needed was the Navy Seals of Sales…

-       sales experience and success for a non branded company

-       Intelligence

-       Independence

-       Creativity

-       Strong communication skills

-       Channel loyalty – the channel needs to already know them and trust them

-       Warriors

-       People with a “chip on their shoulder – something to prove” 

-       Stamina

-       A willingness to be part of the team


When the Navy Seals go in behind enemy lines they must be creative and fight with everything in their packs...it is hard for them to radio home and ask for more features/ tools.   They have what they have - just like an early sales person.  You must sell what you have today. 

If any of you are looking to build a great team – find one of the Data Domain hires – especially the earlier guys in 2004-2008.