Frank Slootman

It's true. You can be too early in markets, and it's hard to know when you're too early until you make the investment.

Yeah, I think the pain from the existing strategy has to be understood. If you don't know what you're solving for, when I'm listening to founders, they're like, here's the reason why now is the time for X, Y, or Z to be successful. I'm going to then go validate that in our research calls with external parties to try to make sure at the right time.

Yeah, I think the pain from the existing strategy has to be understood. If you don't know what you're solving for, when I'm listening to founders, they're like, here's the reason why now is the time for X, Y, or Z to be successful. I'm going to then go validate that in our research calls with external parties to try to make sure at the right time.

Yeah, I think the pain from the existing strategy has to be understood. If you don't know what you're solving for, when I'm listening to founders, they're like, here's the reason why now is the time for X, Y, or Z to be successful. I'm going to then go validate that in our research calls with external parties to try to make sure at the right time.

And there's an art of discovery that is what we call it in sales, where you get into a conversation with a customer and you start asking questions. And that question then leads to another statement, which then you can probe around. And it's a natural conversation like this interview is between two new friends. And we have that discourse.

And there's an art of discovery that is what we call it in sales, where you get into a conversation with a customer and you start asking questions. And that question then leads to another statement, which then you can probe around. And it's a natural conversation like this interview is between two new friends. And we have that discourse.

And there's an art of discovery that is what we call it in sales, where you get into a conversation with a customer and you start asking questions. And that question then leads to another statement, which then you can probe around. And it's a natural conversation like this interview is between two new friends. And we have that discourse.

So as I talk to them, I'll be like, okay, well, what do you think about this? Why is this important? How would you sell it internally? What would you be taking out to be able to afford it? Things like that become really interesting to me as I'm doing diligence.

So as I talk to them, I'll be like, okay, well, what do you think about this? Why is this important? How would you sell it internally? What would you be taking out to be able to afford it? Things like that become really interesting to me as I'm doing diligence.

So as I talk to them, I'll be like, okay, well, what do you think about this? Why is this important? How would you sell it internally? What would you be taking out to be able to afford it? Things like that become really interesting to me as I'm doing diligence.

So yeah, I think it helps, but I think it's that art of the question and not being satisfied with just the first answer, but digging deeper because the truth is usually the second or third question you ask will get you closer to the truth.

So yeah, I think it helps, but I think it's that art of the question and not being satisfied with just the first answer, but digging deeper because the truth is usually the second or third question you ask will get you closer to the truth.

So yeah, I think it helps, but I think it's that art of the question and not being satisfied with just the first answer, but digging deeper because the truth is usually the second or third question you ask will get you closer to the truth.

Yeah, you don't want to talk just to hear yourself talk. And I tell salespeople all the time, like, hey, you got two ears and one mouth. Spend equal amount of time listening where the two ears is talking. You should be asking questions, not just talking. That will get you closer to a motivation, truth, a reason why to buy than just by talking.

Yeah, you don't want to talk just to hear yourself talk. And I tell salespeople all the time, like, hey, you got two ears and one mouth. Spend equal amount of time listening where the two ears is talking. You should be asking questions, not just talking. That will get you closer to a motivation, truth, a reason why to buy than just by talking.

Yeah, you don't want to talk just to hear yourself talk. And I tell salespeople all the time, like, hey, you got two ears and one mouth. Spend equal amount of time listening where the two ears is talking. You should be asking questions, not just talking. That will get you closer to a motivation, truth, a reason why to buy than just by talking.

So we made a mistake. We were getting pressure down market from what I call low-end competitors. But we started getting worried because, you know, if some of these people could get traction down there, would they ever be able to go up into our customer base? We were worried about the low end. We built a product called ServiceNow Express.

So we made a mistake. We were getting pressure down market from what I call low-end competitors. But we started getting worried because, you know, if some of these people could get traction down there, would they ever be able to go up into our customer base? We were worried about the low end. We built a product called ServiceNow Express.

So we made a mistake. We were getting pressure down market from what I call low-end competitors. But we started getting worried because, you know, if some of these people could get traction down there, would they ever be able to go up into our customer base? We were worried about the low end. We built a product called ServiceNow Express.

It was written by the same people that wrote the enterprise product. We tried to dumb it down. We did a terrible job of dumbing it down. We brought it to market. There was interest in it. We were selling it for $10,000 to $15,000 versus $50,000 at the entry price. Did a lot of transactions and made a lot of companies unhappy. Product wasn't easy to use. It became a burden for us on support.