Day 2: What I'm swinging for today
VP to [insert new path here]
A few people have asked what I'm swinging for now that I’ve left the fast-paced VC CRO track fueled by gasoline and anxiety. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure, but it probably involves starting my own venture. Whether that’s a business, consulting practice, or something else.
Since quitting my job four weeks ago, I’ve explored several product ideas (here and here) and spent a lot of time researching how to leverage my experience building sales teams to start my own consulting or fractional business.
The latter are often called expert-led businesses. Identify your unique skills and find a niche where you can make a greater impact than others. Begin sharing your expertise tailored to that specific audience. Grow your own email list to maintain direct contact, regardless of platform changes. Engage your audience by asking about their main pain points or bottlenecks. Use their feedback to develop relevant content and future products. Etc. Etc.
This is a cool tool to help you figure out your “expertise” and niche. And this is a good post about growing an audience on LinkedIn. Both were helpful tools, but neither ultimately helped me figure out what to do and when to take certain actions that could actually translate into income.
In addition, I have conducted outbound outreach to understand what resonates with my future customers (experts and CEOs). See two examples below.
Fractional VP Outbound
Hey [Name ] — As VP of Sales at Flock, I built the mid-market business from the ground up, scaling it from $0 to $45M in ARR in under eight quarters (>100% attainment for eight consecutive quarters).
Then I took the playbook to Edia (Series A Felicis backed), hired 7 reps, 2 managers, and ramped up one into the VP role while growing revenue from $xm to $ym in 2 quarters and driving operational rigor that created predictability for the CEO
Do you have 15 minutes tomorrow or Wednesday to see what a 90-day engagement could look like?
Best,
Ben
benjaminjfoley.com
Product Validation Outbound
To date, using the outbound approach, I’ve had 10+ product validation calls on my product ideas and landed a few consulting gigs. However, I’ve been distracted by interviewing for several jobs simultaneously. I plan to be fully focused on building my own income to support my family.
The clearest, shortest path is through fractional/consulting work, so that is where I am initially focused. This is the first time I’ve done this, so I am going to share all the lessons, pitfalls, and wins with you so that you can do the same.
Ultimately, I only have three requirements for what I do next:
1/ I need to build
2/ I need to be creative
3/ It must be local
Outside of that, I am pursuing any “green light” that comes my way, as Matthew McConaughey would say, hoping to find a path to sustaining my life without needing a full-time job.
PS: If you're also considering doing your “own thing,” what is the biggest obstacle keeping you from trying?
-Ben