Deep Dive: The Power of Relationships - Connect the Dots, sales, recruitment, and beyond with Drew Sechrist
In this episode of Understanding VC, we talk to Drew Sechrist, the founder of Connect the Dots, a powerful relationship intelligence platform designed to help professionals manage their networks. Drew shares his journey from his time at Salesforce to starting his own company, and discusses the importance of relationships in various aspects of business, from sales and recruitment to fundraising.
Connect the Dots provides a unique solution to relationship management, combining email history and LinkedIn data to create an accurate representation of relationship strength. Drew delves into the tool's advantages over competitors like Affinity, and Bridge.app, and explains the significance of canonization in presenting a clean and simple view of one's network.
We also learn how Connect the Dots allows users to maintain their contacts and relationship history when transitioning between jobs, without losing any valuable information. Drew talks about the key role relationships play in sales, recruitment, fundraising, and personal life, emphasizing their critical importance for success.
Drew shares advice for entrepreneurs looking to build their networks, and explains how working at a successful startup can pave the way for future entrepreneurial endeavors. In B2B SaaS sales, networking and relationships can be instrumental for both early-stage founders and growth-phase teams, as leveraging relationships can lead to increased conversions and faster sales cycles.
Drew highlights the similarities between recruitment, fundraising, and sales, as well as the role of back-channeling in fundraising efforts. Introductions to VCs are critical for entrepreneurs seeking funding, and having an established network provides social proof for investors. Drew concludes by emphasizing the value of relationships as the most precious asset in any career.
In this episode you will learn:
- What is Connect the Dots and how does it help users find strong connections to desired contacts?
- How does Connect the Dots differ from other tools like Conspire, Affinity, or Bridge.app in terms of relationship intelligence?
- How does Connect the Dots enable users to keep their contacts and relationship history as they change jobs, without losing valuable information?
- Why did Drew choose to focus on solving the problem of relationship management?
- How did Drew's experience at Salesforce contribute to his decision to become an entrepreneur?
- What advice does Drew have for entrepreneurs wanting to build a network?
- How can multi-threading and using relationships across the organization help in speeding up the sales cycle and improving conversions? What benefits can an entire sales team and company experience when everyone is leveraging relationships for sales?
- How does having a network help with recruitment? In what ways are recruitment, fundraising, and sales similar?
- Why are introductions important for entrepreneurs seeking funding from VCs?
About:
Drew Sechrist is a serial entrepreneur, veteran sales leader, and the CEO and co-founder of Connect The Dots.
A cold email to Marc Benioff in 1999 landed Drew an account executive job at Salesforce, where he was employee number 36. Drew became the company’s highest-producing seller, then the highest-producing sales manager as Salesforce scaled from zero to more than a billion dollars in revenue.
When Drew moved on in 2010, he was the VP of Salesforce’s High Tech vertical, calling on customers such as Apple and EMC. Drew launched his first tech company, Koozoo, in 2010. He went on to serve as an investor, advisor, and Chief Revenue Officer for various startups before founding Connect The Dots in 2019.
As a young seller, leaders like Marc Benioff, Jim Steele, Carl Schachter, and Susan St. Ledger transformed Drew’s career by opening their networks and making warm introductions on Drew’s behalf. With Connect The Dots, Drew is making that experience possible for anyone.
Drew Sechrist
CEO and co-founder of Connect The Dots
Drew Sechrist is a serial entrepreneur, veteran sales leader, and the CEO and co-founder of Connect The Dots.
A cold email to Marc Benioff in 1999 landed Drew an account executive job at Salesforce, where he was employee number 36. Drew became the company’s highest-producing seller, then the highest-producing sales manager as Salesforce scaled from zero to more than a billion dollars in revenue.
When Drew moved on in 2010, he was the VP of Salesforce’s High Tech vertical, calling on customers such as Apple and EMC. Drew launched his first tech company, Koozoo, in 2010. He went on to serve as an investor, advisor, and Chief Revenue Officer for various startups before founding Connect The Dots in 2019.
As a young seller, leaders like Marc Benioff, Jim Steele, Carl Schachter, and Susan St. Ledger transformed Drew’s career by opening their networks and making warm introductions on Drew’s behalf. With Connect The Dots, Drew is making that experience possible for anyone.
Listen:
