To Intronis and Back: A New Perspective for a New Year at OpenView

I first joined OpenView Labs in 2008 when it was really just getting started. During my time at OpenView I learned a ton about sales and marketing at expansion stage software companies and worked with OpenView portfolio companies to help them build out these capabilities. One of the companies that I worked with was Intronis, and the engagement actually went a so far that I ended up going to work there full-time. That project was one of the first times OpenView Labs had worked with a portfolio company to help build an outbound prospecting team. The first part of the project is actually laid out in the case study that we did at the end of 2009.

What’s not in the case study is what happened next…

As the team continued to grow at OpenView Labs we began the search for not only additional business development reps, but also a manager to take over the team and continue building it out at Intronis. This was the role that I ended up filling. Over the next nine months, with the support of the OpenView Labs, I was able to grow Intronis’ business development team from 3 to 12 reps. The OpenView Labs team was instrumental in helping to generate quality leads to feed the growing number of hungry business development reps, and they also helped us higher many of the those new reps. Also, by applying many of the principles that I learned in my time at OpenView, I was able to increase the productivity of each rep by nearly 50% from when we started.

About one year later I transitioned into another role at Intronis to build out their Customer Success process. The goal of the process was to help Intronis maintain their already high renewal rate and make sure that partners were successful at not only using the software, but also reselling it to their clients. This was a great experience and one that I hope to share with other portfolio companies now that I am back at OpenView.

While I was gone, many changes took place at OpenView as well. The portfolio has doubled in size, they raised another fund, and the OpenView Labs team is even better equipped to add value to portfolio companies. The OpenView Labs team has produced a collection of eBooks, practices kits, and frameworks designed to help portfolio companies implement best practices, and focus on the few opportunities that will bring them the most impact. In today’s fast moving high tech market, the right prioritization and allocation of resources is critical, especially for expansion stage companies. Focusing on the right opportunity, at the right time, in the right way is often what makes the difference between companies that grow successfully, and companies that don’t.

While I was at Intronis I had the opportunity to be a part of the strategic planning cycle from within, and participated in the execution of that strategy. Now that I am back at OpenView I once again find myself on the outside looking in at our portfolio companies. The perspective and experience that I gained during my two years at Intronis will help me bring other portfolio companies to the next level.