Why OpenAI Had to Un-do Sales w/ Aliisa Rosenthal (Head of Sales, OpenAI)

08/16/23 • 36 min

Hired by Sam Altman. Leading a team of two people. And then your product changes the world.

Host Mark Roberge is joined by Aliisa Rosenthal (Head of Sales, OpenAI) to discuss how she leads sales at OpenAI pre and post-AI world. In this episode learn more about:

What to do when your company launches the biggest most successful product known to mankind
The power of giving your team product knowledge and understanding
Her first duty as the sales leader was to un-do sales
Building a playbook from the product team
Why you may have to tell a customer “no” sometimes

The Science of Scaling is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network in collaboration with HubSpot For Startups // Produced by Matthew Brown.

Hired by Sam Altman. Leading a team of two people. And then your product changes the world.

Host Mark Roberge is joined by Aliisa Rosenthal (Head of Sales, OpenAI) to discuss how she leads sales at OpenAI pre and post-AI world. In this episode learn more about:

What to do when your company launches the biggest most successful product known to mankind
The power of giving your team product knowledge and understanding
Her first duty as the sales leader was to un-do sales
Building a playbook from the product team
Why you may have to tell a customer “no” sometimes

The Science of Scaling is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network in collaboration with HubSpot For Startups // Produced by Matthew Brown.

Previous Episode

How to Escape the PLG Trap w/ Oliver Jay (Founding CRO, Asana)

Stop looking at playbooks, and start looking at the learnings. Because success is always about context.

And with the right planning, PLG startups can set themselves up the PLG trap – where PLG companies with around 5 billion dollar valuation tend to stall, while others break out to 20 billion dollars or more.

Host Mark Roberge is joined by Oliver Jay, (Founding CRO, Asana) to discuss the inappropriate cut and paste of PLG practices. In this episode learn more about:

The importance of running experiments on the side (to unleash new growth opportunities before they’re needed)
The power in a joint mindset with the rest of the leadership team
Leverage your influencing skills
The difference between an exceptionally run company vs. average run company

The Science of Scaling is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network in collaboration with HubSpot For Startups // Produced by Matthew Brown.

Next Episode

The Funnel and Revenue Math w/ Matt Plank (CRO, Rippling)

How do you set the right sales quota for a rep? What about the quarterly spend on account executives, marketing, or SDRs?

Host Mark Roberge is joined by Matt Plank (CRO, Rippling) to discuss how to think through all the different projections on your sales and marketing spends. In this episode learn more about:

The evolution of email as a growth channel
The importance of demand generation and scaling
Finding balance with inbound and outbound
Why you should 5x quota on a rep’s OTE (on target earnings)
The role of SDRs in the sales process

The Science of Scaling is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network in collaboration with HubSpot For Startups // Produced by Matthew Brown.