Identifying the ICP with the greatest need with Aircall's Jonathan Anguelov
This week on How to Win: Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder & CSO at Aircall, a cloud-based call center and phone system that seamlessly integrates with common productivity and help desk tools. Since its founding in 2014, Aircall has raised over $226M in funding and now sits at over $100M ARR with over 700 global employees. In this episode we discuss the massive opportunity Aircall saw in the market, how they got an early leg up on the competition by being specific about their ICP, and why innovation remains a core part of their strategy. I share my thoughts on the wisdom of entering a market with lots of demand, how to choose which JTBD to focus on when your product support multiple, and why there is so much value in hiring folks with deep expertise (even if they come with a higher price tag).
Summary:
This week on How to Win: Jonathan Anguelov, co-founder & CSO at Aircall, a cloud-based call center and phone system that seamlessly integrates with common productivity and help desk tools. Since its founding in 2014, Aircall has raised over $226M in funding and now sits at over $100M ARR with over 700 global employees. In this episode we discuss the massive opportunity Aircall saw in the market, how they got an early leg up on the competition by being specific about their ICP, and why innovation remains a core part of their strategy. I share my thoughts on the wisdom of entering a market with lots of demand, how to choose which JTBD to focus on when your product support multiple, and why there is so much value in hiring folks with deep expertise (even if they come with a higher price tag).
Key Points:
- Jonathan explains the opportunity Aircall saw in the market (01:13)
- Jonathan describes the competitive landscape that Aircall initially entered (03:16)
- I explore the benefits of entering a high-demand market with a quote from Terminus' Sangram Vajre (05:13)
- Jonathan maps out Aircall's go to market strategy (06:53)
- I take a look at choosing a job to be done to focus on with a quote from Olivine Marketing's Raechel Lambert (09:27)
- How Aircall nailed their ICP and identified their greatest need (10:43)
- I unpack what a go to market strategy is with a quote from DemandMaven's Asia Matos (13:20)
- How does Aircall allocate their funding strategically? (16:42)
- I discuss the value of hiring for experience with a quote from Malcolm Gladwell on the ten thousand hour rule (18:30)
- What advice does Jonathan have for fellow founders? (21:48)
- Wrap up (24:59)
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