Databricks Rebuilt

The Official Saastr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors · SaaStr 884: The AI-First Seller: How Databricks Rebuilt Its Sales…

• What Is the Biggest Mistake Early Companies Make?

  Ron Gabrisko says the biggest mistake is not capturing value from customers, and an early company still has to get customers on board. Ramp them at a low cost. The entry point should be as low as possible so people try the product with the least spend. Free trials work, and pay as you go is a really important model, including a start on a credit card.

  Let them use the product. Once they love it, you grow like a mushroom. Instead of one or two users, you have the whole department and then multiple departments, and only then do you go get a commit. Demanding a commit before anyone can do anything with the software is a huge mistake. People try to slam in a big deal right out of the gate. The

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• Does Databricks Still Have a Strong Sales Development Team?

  Ron Gabrisko says Databricks still has a really robust sales development team. The company keeps adding more and more AEs and more and more SAs. Sales development headcount, for the most part, is flat, and the reason is productivity going way up.

  Databricks is trying to automate all the outbound work, all the signals on certain prospects and contacts, and all of its campaigns. Personalization now reaches the individual person, and productivity is out the roof. He thinks data and AI is one of the hottest markets of all time, and lots of people are interested in learning more about Databricks. Sales development productivity from the tools has gone way up.

  If he started the company today, he

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• Should Databricks Sellers Be AI First?

  Ron Gabrisko says Databricks sellers have to be AI first. They need to use AI to understand the customer and to develop demos. A lot of the AEs were already pretty technical as a sales team and as a field organization, and every single one of them runs Databricks on Databricks.

  They use Genie on their phones. Genie is their product, and they are selling Genie to every single customer. Sellers need to develop demos themselves, use the products, and be very technical. AI is now a CEO-level initiative, so they also need to talk to CEOs about business outcomes.

  The work means upping the game tremendously because the market is moving crazy fast. He has never been more excited to be at Databrick

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