Revenue Brothers
What happens when a VC and a CEO come together? – They nerd out about all things revenue. And they don’t always agree. Raul Porojan of Project A Ventures and Toni Hohlbein of Growblocks are the Super Revenue Brothers. In every episode they dissect and debate current issues in B2B SaaS, and offer solutions on how to solve them No matter if you’re an early-stage startup or a scaling unicorn – you’ll always learn something new.
Intern to CRO - The Toni Hohlbein Story | #035
Ever wondered how a near-firing can lead to a top executive role?
Raul and Toni take a deep dive into Toni's career journey. From his beginnings as a struggling part-timer in Copenhagen to becoming the Chief Revenue Officer at Falcon. Plus, a candid discussion of mistakes made and lessons learned along the way.
(00:00) - Introdcution (03:13) - Toni's Origin Story (06:32) - Life in Copenhagen vs. Germany (10:20) - The Falcon Journey (15:39) - From Intern to CRO (21:32) - Lessons and ReflectionsHow to run a GTM diagnosis in the first 90 days | #034
You're brand new in an organization and you have 90 days to figure out what's going wrong and what you need to fix now. How do you start?
In this episode, Raul and Toni run through how to run a proper GTM diagnosis.
What makes a good revenue leader? | #033
What makes a good must-hire revenue leader? What sets them apart? And how can you spot the fake ones?
In this episode, Raul and Toni talk about their experiences in hiring the role, and what they think you should watch out for.
(00:00) - Introduction (00:55) - The SaaS events scene (05:00) - What makes a good revenue leader? (08:31) - Hiring and Testing for Scrappiness (13:15) - Evaluating the new hire (21:06) - Stop changing what's working (27:13) - When leaders speak bullshit (29:18) - Final Thoughts and Wrap-UpHow to hire RevOps | #032
So you want to RevOps.
Great, but where do you start? What kinds of talent should you look for? And who should they report to?
In this episode, Raul and Toni the different archetypes of RevOps backgrounds—whether from consulting, finance, or commercial roles—and where to best place these individuals within your organization. They also share anecdotes about the challenges and strategies for growing RevOps talent internally and what to look for when hiring from outside.
(00:00) - Introduction (00:22) - Vacation stories and missing episodes (05:19) - RevOps talent: Who to hire and why ...How to deal with seasonality in sales | #031
Whether you're in B2B or B2C, seasonality is practically universal. So what can you do?
In this episode, Raul and Toni share how to recognize and manage seasonal cycles in sales.
From understanding fiscal year ends, budget cycles, and the psychology behind customer and sales rep behaviors to practical tips on managing pipelines and leveraging seasonal trends, this episode equips you with the tools to stay ahead.
(00:00) - Introduction (04:18) - Seasonality in Sales (05:35) - Understanding Seasonality: Input and Throughput (11:24) - Stop blaming bad results on seasonality (16:54) - Best practices: conquering s...To gate or not to gate? | #030
Should we still gate quality content? Or should we release it for free? No matter what side you side, the answer is never easy in SaaS today.
Raul and Toni debate the pros and cons of gating and how to think about your content strategy to get results in your pipeline.
(00:00) - Introduction (00:37) - Berlin Event Recap (04:29) - Gated vs. Ungated Content (07:10) - Pros and Cons of Gated Content (12:01) - The Value of Quality Content (14:25) - Balancing Gated and Ungated ApproachesThe hard truth about data trust | #029
How often do you argue about your data? How many times have numbers been questioned? And is the data you're even gathering helpful in the first place? We all want to make data-driven decisions. But what happens when you lack that data trust?
In this episode, Raul and Toni talk about the reason why so many companies struggle with data trust, and introduce a framework to get it back.
(00:00) - Introduction (08:06) - The data diet (15:29) - Rolling out metric frameworks (19:03) - ATAA: Acccuracy, Transparenct, Analyzability & Acrionability (26:17) - ATAA: Transparency (35:29) - ATAA: Analyzability and ActionabilityRevenue concepts explained | #028
Class is in session! Raul and Toni constantly bring up different frameworks and acronyms in the SaaS revenue world. In this episode, they put on their professor hats and explain some of their favorites and go-tos.
In this episode you'll learn about:
- The revenue engine/factory
- The revenue formula
- How compounding works
- CAC Payback and CAC:LTV
On the road as a co-founder (with Julius Koehler from sennder) | #027
Despite having around 1,000 employees and 11 offices, Julius Koehler, a co-founder of sennder, still spends most of his time on the road, meeting customers face-to-face.
It may not be the typical play from a founder, but he discusses with Raul and Toni why it works for him and his team, as well as the challenges it brings.
(00:00) - Introduction (00:55) - Meet Julius and sennder (03:59) - Everytime you double the business, you need to rebuild the company (05:52) - Still meeting face-to-face as a founder (14:34) - Saving hopeless deals (19:38) - The difficulties of face-to-face (22:33) - What I...CROs today have to change | #026
The modern definition of a CRO is changing, and not enough current CROs are noticing.
In this episode, Raul and Toni talk about why they're falling behind, what the role should look like going forward, and what current CROs need to do to get there.
