#DF11 Social Sales Revolution – The Social Business Intelligence Story

For all of you that were in our session I can only say that the mere fact that no one left the session until 55 minutes in is a credit to Scott Holden and the entire team that put together this session together. We had so much great content that we ran out of time for me to share the section I prepared around Social Business Intelligence.

This is my favorite story of the day, so I felt compelled to share it here and post a link to the Dreamforce App.

The title of this little post:

“How I got my job at Teambox”

It starts with a random search of a social network called You Noodle

You Noodle was supposed to be a social networking site for startups and people that worked with startups. They never built any real features into the system so instead it really morphed into a billboard for startups; and a great way for someone like me to check out new companies.

I was using their version of stumble when I cam across Teambox. This refreshing social way of managing projects and communication excited me. I signed up for a free account and instantly fell in love. I went back to the site and found the founder, Pablo Villalba.

Next step? I found him on Twitter and read his feed. It opened the door to his thoughts on Basecamp. We share a displeasure for their bad UI. Then I read some of his blog posts and learned about his involvement on Github for open source utilities. All of these things resonated with my personal tastes and I realized that there may be a fit. So, I added him on LinkedIn and sent him a note that I wanted to connect.

He connected with me on Skype. We started to chat. I was at this point prepared.

What I knew before ever talking to him.

1.  He did not like Basecamp.

2. He is into open source projects.

3. He is young and energetic.

4. He is an aerospace engineer.

5. He loved the startup world.

6. They just went live with their paid offering the month prior.

7. They did not have a sales team.

All of this allowed me to manage our conversation by highlighting relevant information and my own expertise. I knew what he needed even more that he did. He needed me.

A week after our first conversation I started working with Teambox and 16 months later, I have no regrets. It was the right move at the right time for all of us. Without some Social Business Intelligence, I may have never figured any of this out or presented it to Pablo in a way that compelled him to bring me on. It was what I knew that sealed the deal. What I knew was readily available online. I just had to know where to look. Pablo showed me without ever knowing.