Godard Abel: Embrace the audible | SaaStr Annual 2019

G2 Crowd CEO Godard Abel: Embrace the Audible After spending about an hour with G2 Crowd CEO Godard Abel at their booth on Tuesday, I was curious to attend his presentation at SaaStr Annual the next day. In fact, I made sure to show up early so I could grab a front row seat. His presentation was entitled: "The “Dos & Don’ts” of Building Winning SaaS Companies with G2 Crowd"

The “Dos & Don’ts” of Building Winning SaaS Companies with G2 Crowd

"Everything I do today is sales." Here are my takeaways from Godard Abel's presentation at SaaStr Annual 2019:

• Born in Germany (He's Gen X like me).
• Embrace the Audible.
• "Many of us are worried about getting 'Amazoned'"
• He is buddies with Lars Nilsson from SteelBrick days.
• G2 Crowd was inspired by the fact it took Godard 9 years to get into a Gartner quadrant: “We wanted to eliminate the magic in the magic quadrant.”
• John Sculley was the first investor in BigMachines.
• “Everything I do today is sales.”
• Believes SaaS will get much bigger over the next ten years.
• Matt Gorniak is the man.
• Agrees with Marc Benioff that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a huge wave.
• G2 Crowd is about amplifying the customer’s voice. Currently at nearly 300 employees.
• The Godard Demo Rule: No boring demos. “The key to a good demo is how you tell it.”
• The Godard SaaS Rule: Don't give it away.
• "Create a winning story because most software is kinda boring."
• Don’t use recruiters. Bring the best people with you instead.
• Godard also uses the V2MOM.
• “The simplest thing I’ve learned is just to breath.”
• Qualtrics went all in on G2 Crowd.
• Be authentic.
• Runs every morning.
• “Follow your divine path to the summit.”

Also, enjoy the pics I took from the front row.

G2 Crowd acquired Siftery in December

Company Culture is vital

"We wanted to eliminate the magic in the magic quadrant." Godard Abel

Take care of yourself as you follow your divine path to the summit

"Create a winning story because most software is kinda boring."

The Sales playbook is unique for each company

The Godard SaaS Rule: Don't give it away

G2 Crowd

G2 Crowd is a peer-to-peer, business solutions review platform headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. They can be thought of as a Yelp for business software reviews. The company was launched in May 2012 by former BigMachines employees, with a focus on aggregating user reviews for business software. The company recently raised a Series C round of financing.