Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs – Mark Musselman #015
“Going into BMC, that’s a Harvard Business School case study and I would title it, Speed Boat Takes Over Aircraft Carrier.” - Mark Musselman
Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.
In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry.
Episode 15 features Mark Musselman, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Vapor IO. With over 20 years of experience at both early stage and mature organisations, Mark is in his element building and leading enterprise sales teams and company partnerships. Referring to himself as a “sucker for bleeding edge,” Mark has seen huge success both inside and outside of the software sales arena. Forever striving to be the best at whatever he puts his mind to, he has achieved some amazing feats from IPOs to becoming an esteemed breakbeat DJ and starting his own record label, Momu.
“John called me ‘the workhorse’ because he knew I was always out with the customer; I was always out there. Then he started calling me ‘the artist’ because I would come up with interesting ways to try and get deals done or ways to be relevant to the champion and their business.”
Mark’s success is without doubt a testament to his work ethic and unique personality. He is smart, competitive and gravitates towards problems that need to be solved. These crucial character traits laid a solid foundation when it came to joining the sales team at BladeLogic and learning the playbook from John McMahon. Once he knew the rules of the game, Mark had everything he needed to conquer this notoriously aggressive sales environment.
“You really need to be thinking about training, training, training, whether it’s yourself that needs it or your team that needs it, and it needs to be iterative and constant so that you’re audible ready and prepared at all times. It’s not just product training, it’s training on how to run the methodology and run the playbooks – it’s both.”
In this vodcast you will discover:
- The early years of tech – behind the scenes of BladeLogic and the BMC takeover
- How to survive in the technology industry without becoming a robot
- The importance of good competition amongst your peers
- Why you should recruit athletes over experience
Mark Musselman understands what it takes to succeed in this industry. He knows the key to increasing revenue and how to build proactive sales teams that dominate with maths and science, but his natural creativity and passion for technology has given him an upper hand. We discuss Mark’s love for this industry, his management style and the unique strategies he uses to help close deals faster. An entertaining insight into the world of a true hunter, this discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.
