Vodcast

Optimize For Development Because That Is What Transfers

Your Career Should Tell A Story

Carlos Delatorre: A Company Can Be a TERRIBLE Place to Build Your Career

Nominate the next guest (and win a race seat!) here: ...

Nominate the next guest (and win a race seat!) here: https://tally.so/r/vXX0g0

Is the hottest AI startup actually the best place to build your sales career?

In this episode of Hunters and Unicorns, ...Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne welcome back a great friend of the show, Carlos Delatorre, President, Go To Market at Harness, to talk about what may be the most dangerous market sales professionals have ever seen and how to separate signal from noise when you’re making a career decision.

Carlos explains why a company can be a great investment for venture capitalists but not a great place to build a career, why founder-market fit matters as much as product-market fit, and why the ultimate moat is distribution, not technology. He looks back on MongoDB’s crucible moment joining at around $30M, hitting $100M on open source, then reinventing with Atlas on the way to $2B and on the hardest, most impactful years of his career working for John McMahon.

The conversation also covers which sales skills still matter in the age of AI, why the new bottleneck in software is everything that happens after the code is written, how Harness is rebuilding sales enablement with AI, the three pillars of sales execution that won’t be automated, and why the best career move is often to choose the best boss.

In this episode:
• Why VC funding is a signal, but not the signal
• Founder-market fit and the two ways companies sub-optimize without it
• Unit economics, thin moats and why hot PLG companies become sales execution games
• Why distribution is the ultimate moat
• MongoDB’s crucible moment: from $30M to $2B with Atlas
• Why ARR doesn’t mean what it used to
• The paradox: the best sales execution happens without the perfect product
• Optimizing for development and growth instead of easy money
• Which sales skills still matter in the age of AI
• The new bottleneck: everything after the code
• Winners and losers in the AI market
• How Harness is using AI to rebuild sales enablement
• Internal champions: why the mentee doesn’t get to pick
• Pipeline generation, champion building and qualification
• Choosing the best boss and the best boss’s boss

About Carlos Delatorre

Carlos Delatorre is the President, Go To Market at Harness, where he oversees the sales and go-to-market functions behind the company’s AI software delivery platform. Earlier in his career he led sales at MongoDB, joining at around $30M in revenue, and worked for John McMahon at PTC, BladeLogic and BMC. This is his third appearance on Hunters and Unicorns.

About Our Sponsor:

Big thanks to Aurasell for sponsoring this episode.

Aurasell is an AI-native GTM platform designed to intelligently automate every aspect of the sales cycle from prospecting and deal management to forecasting and coaching.

Subscribe to Hunters and Unicorns for more conversations with the leaders building, scaling, and transforming high-growth technology companies.

#HuntersAndUnicorns #CarlosDelatorre #Harness #MongoDB #SalesCareer #FounderMarketFit #AI #SDLC #GTM #SalesLeadership #B2BSales #Leadership

Timestamps:

0:00 – Trailer
1:31 – Welcome & Introduction
2:12 – The Most Dangerous Market We’ve Ever Seen
4:58 – Founder-Market Fit
8:33 – How to Spot the Right Founder
9:34 – Unit Economics and Thin Moats
11:47 – Why Distribution Is the Ultimate Moat
12:38 – Crucible Moments: MongoDB From $30M to $2B
15:27 – Why ARR Doesn’t Mean What It Used To
17:25 – Technology vs. Your Sales Career
18:40 – Why Work Harder Than You Need To?
20:02 – Chasing Money in a Hype Market
21:35 – Which Sales Skills Still Matter in the Age of AI
25:29 – AI and the New Bottleneck in Software
31:55 – Winners and Losers in the AI Market
33:23 – Ahead of the Wave: Harness’s Inflection Point
36:54 – How Harness Is Using AI in Its Own Sales Team
38:24 – Rebuilding Sales Enablement With AI
40:30 – How the Sales Profile Is Changing
42:41 – Internal Champions and the Three Pillars of Sales
45:09 – Choose the Best Boss
46:08 – The Future of Frontier Labs and Software Companies
47:45 – ClosingShow More

You Act Like The Leader Before The Job

Stop Telling Your Reps What’s Wrong — Do This Instead as a Sales Leader

Why do your reps stop listening the moment you tell them what's wrong? ...

You Don't Have To Promote Them

People Rarely Argue With Their Own Conclusions

The Coaching Tree Is The Real Measure

The Sign You Are Ready to Lead — Their Win Feels Better Than Yours

Nominate the next guest (and win a race seat!) here: ...

Nominate the next guest (and win a race seat!) here: https://tally.so/r/vXX0g0

How do you know you're actually ready for the next seat and how do you make sure every career move ...makes you better?

In this episode of Hunters and Unicorns, Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne sit down with Matthew Fermino, CRO at Fable Security, to unpack what it really takes to move from top rep to first-line leader, to second-line leader, and all the way to the CRO seat.

Matthew explains why he has always optimized his career for development over everything else, why your career should tell a story, and how he knew he was ready to lead: when he took more pride in seeing someone he coached win a deal than in winning one himself. He breaks down the shift from telling to coaching ("people rarely argue with their own conclusions"), how to manage the peers you used to sit next to, and why first-line leaders are the most important role in the entire go-to-market team yet the one companies develop the least.

The conversation also covers the jump to second-line leadership, reading the business through data, building leaders who find the answers without you, extreme ownership at every layer, staying close to the field as a CRO, his turning point at Starburst, and why Fable Security is going after the biggest problem in cybersecurity: the human layer.

In this episode:
• Why you should optimize your career for development, not titles
• Why your career should tell a story and the danger of short stints
• What real development looks like: tying it to each person's "why"
• How to know you're ready for first-line leadership
• Why you don't have to promote every great IC
• The fundamentals to master before you lead: conviction, forecasting, coachability
• Managing the people who were your peers a week ago
• Going from telling to coaching
• How a brand-new leader recruits A players
• Why the best sellers can sell anything
• The difference between first-line and second-line leadership
• Reading the business through data as you scale
• Accountability at every layer of the org
• Staying close to the field instead of managing from an ivory tower
• His turning point at Starburst, from $1M in revenue and 20 employees to 600
• Building a coaching tree
• Fable Security and the human layer of cybersecurity

About Matthew Fermino

Matthew Fermino is CRO at Fable Security, which is tackling the human layer of cybersecurity the risky behavior behind most breaches. Before Fable, he built his career at PTC, Perfecto and Starburst, where he joined at around $1M in revenue and helped scale the company through rapid growth, including building out Europe and APAC for the first time.

About Our Sponsor:

Big thanks to Aurasell for sponsoring this episode.

Aurasell is an AI-native GTM platform designed to intelligently automate every aspect of the sales cycle from prospecting and deal management to forecasting and coaching.

Subscribe to Hunters and Unicorns for more conversations with the leaders building, scaling, and transforming high-growth technology companies.

#HuntersAndUnicorns #MatthewFermino #FableSecurity #CRO #SalesLeadership #GTM #RevenueLeadership #SalesManagement #Coaching #Cybersecurity #B2BSales #Leadership

Timestamps:

0:00 – Trailer
1:16 – Welcome & Introduction
1:51 – Why You Should Optimize Your Career for Development
2:42 – Short Stints and Why Your Career Should Tell a Story
4:31 – What Development Really Means
5:49 – Learning From Great Leaders at PTC
7:43 – How to Know You're Ready for First-Line Leadership
9:54 – You Don't Have to Promote Every Great IC
11:40 – The Fundamentals to Master Before You Lead
13:11 – Deal Muscle Memory: Seeing Around Corners
15:15 – Managing the Peers You Used to Work Beside
17:44 – Recruiting and Going From Telling to Coaching
20:12 – How a New Leader Recruits A Players
21:49 – Why Leaders Need to Sell the Vision to Candidates
23:25 – Why the Best Sellers Can Sell Anything
25:22 – Learning From Different Leaders and Playbooks
29:09 – First-Line vs. Second-Line Leadership
31:36 – Matthew's Mistakes as a New Second-Line Leader
34:39 – Reading the Business Through Data
37:09 – Developing Leaders Who Find Answers Without You
40:42 – Accountability at Every Layer
42:02 – When Are You Ready for Second-Line Leadership?
44:16 – Breaking Through to Executive Leadership
46:15 – Staying Close to the Field as a CRO
49:36 – Working Cross-Functionally as One Team
51:03 – The Turning Point: Scaling Starburst
55:24 – Building a Coaching Tree
56:53 – Fable Security and the Human Layer
1:00:25 – What's Next for Fable
1:00:59 – ClosingShow More

I Always Ask How They Left

I Jumped On A Moving Train

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