Let’s Start Selling: Welcome Jim Wilson, our newest Operating Partner
Oct 5, 2016
A few weeks ago, Jim Wilson officially joined Costanoa as an Operating Partner focused on Sales. Jim brings a unique set of skills to the role and we are excited to have him work directly with our portfolio companies to build their sales strategy and teams.
More operating expertise to help in go-to-market
At Costanoa, we pride ourselves on making early stage decisions using a lens around Products and People. This lens helps our investment team figure out when a company has achieved (at least the first level of) product market fit, which often happens when the founders have sold to a few to a dozen customers (depending upon product price point). The question is, what does a founder do next?
After multiple working sessions to help craft strategies for efficient market entry with companies such as Alation, ZenIQ and ACME Technologies, it became clear to us that we should bring deeper expertise in sales and marketing to complement the incredible product expertise of our founders. Martina Lauchengco in Marketing and Jim Wilson in Sales joined Costanoa to do exactly that: teach best practices, build templates, lead seminars, mentor emerging functional leaders and build world class teams in their respective areas.
Jim is the model sales leader: performance + management
Jim has executed incredibly effectively at start-ups like Sumo Logic, as well as large ones such as Microsoft and PTC (Parametric Technology). At Sumo, he oversaw ARR growth from $4M to $40M over a two year period and at Merced Systems he grew bookings from $6M to $72M over a five year period. He has seen very rapid growth and has operated in highly capital efficient contexts. He recognizes that there is not one right sales model, but will help a company think through the right approach for that company, its product and its market. And finally, Jim has a collaborative orientation that led him to partner effectively with marketing organizations, as we think marketing-sales alignment is essential for efficient go to market.
We are thrilled our portfolio now has access to world-class experts around go-to market and proud that Jim has chosen to join our team.
