Suggestions
Beau Brooks
VP of Sales & Customer Success
Beau Brooks is the VP of Worldwide Sales at Teamwork.com, a project management platform designed for agencies.13 With over 15 years of experience in sales and customer team leadership in the software industry, Beau is known for building high-growth teams focused on value-based sales strategies.1
Prior to joining Teamwork.com in May 2022, Beau held leadership positions at several companies:
- VP of Sales at Factorial HR (April 2021 - December 2021)
- SVP of Sales & CX at Formstack (January 2019 - April 2021)
- VP of Sales at Signpost (November 2016 - August 2017)3
Beau is based in Denver, Colorado, and has played a key role in Teamwork.com's expansion into the city.2 He brings a unique perspective to the company, having led sales teams in both the United States and Europe.2
In addition to his role at Teamwork.com, Beau is also:
- A HubSpot Revenue Council Member (since May 2023)
- A Network Partner/Investor at CREANDUM (since January 2022)
- A member of The Revenue Collective (since January 2019)3
Beau holds an MBA in Management - Finance from the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business and a BA in Political Science and Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.3
Outside of work, Beau enjoys trail running in the mountains of Colorado and spending time with his family.1 He's also an accomplished ultramarathon runner, having completed the Leadville 100 Ultramarathon in August 2022.3
Highlights
Hey Network, anyone going to the All-In Summit in 2 weeks?
I had my birthday this week 🎂, and I realized it was a special one. 10 years ago on this birthday I decided to try the saas tech startup world and see if I could hack it.
It's been a crazy journey and selfishly I want to share some highlights:
-First Director, VP and SVP roles (no C's yet 😉)
-Made the rare move from CX leader to Sales leader.
-Moved from leading a single channel to managing multiple channels 3 times.
-Moved to Europe for a startup
-Learned to lead scaled teams of 125, 150 & 175 people 🤯
-Was a part of a successful exit and became wealthy
-Got fired for the first time 🤓
-Opened a GTM office on a new continent 2 times
-Moved back to the US
-Lost my brother
It's been a crazy, fulfilling and challenging 10 years. So what are the 10 lessons:
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Say YES to hard things. There were multiple times the boss asked 'who wants this project' and no one else raised their hand. Countless promotions out of saying yes.
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Meet as many people as possible and be curious. Ask people to meet on Linkedin and say yes when others ask. So many favors I can call in right now simply from years of agreeing to meet people and then helping them somehow.
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Share your work challenges openly. There is a widespread habit to hide what's not going well. I've gained tons of trust and respect by showing what's going wrong.
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Come with solutions. The easiest people to work with are those that share problems AFTER thinking about what solutions are out there. Even if they are the wrong solutions, you will get better and coming up with them.
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Ask questions you think that you already know the answer to. Whether it's customers or co-workers, assuming you know the answer stops you from letting someone talk.
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Push people. Hard. When managers don't hold people accountable for their performance, their people start to think they don't matter. I've been told I was building a Culture of Fear ™. I've been told by the Board that I was making a terrible people management decision. I once got 8 1-star glassdoor reviews in under a week. But in each case, the strategy worked. No one quit, and everyone shared they appreciated the accountablility.
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When times are tough, lean in. And tell your boss about it. It's scary. Private equity takeovers, new bosses and plenty of missed quarters. When everyone panics, you can be the rock that your boss needs to leapfrog forward.
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Ask for help. I was terrible at this for a long time. Human nature is to prove that we can do it on our own. That's scary for your leader. You will actually be the rock star rather than problem child
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Give people the credit. As a leader, you want to look like you are brilliant. There's nothing wrong with being brilliant at hiring great people and helping them crush it. If you share credit, your people will run through a brick wall
Ran out of space... if you made it this far, # 10 and 10.5 are in the comments
#sales #customersuccess #startus #saas #happybirthday
