Marketing a movement over a product with Terminus' Sangram Vajre
This week on How to Win: Sangram Vajre, co-founder and Chief Evangelist of Terminus, an account based marketing platform. Terminus was founded in 2014 and experienced exponential growth after hitting $1M in ARR in their first year. Since then, they have acquired five companies and have expanded to around 350 employees. In this episode, Sangram describes how Terminus created a category by starting a movement with a clear point of view, and the strategies they have used since to boost their success. I share my thoughts on community creation, why having a well-articulated point of view is compelling, and the importance of having both focus and resilience in your organization.
Key Points:
- Sangram explains the problem he identified that inspired Terminus (01:00)
- How Sangram developed the FlipMyFunnel framework in Terminus' first year (02:31)
- My thoughts on community creation as a moat (04:37)
- I explain the benefits of developing your company around a clear point of view (07:19)
- Why Terminus defined their category as account base marketing, rather than the narrower niche of account-based advertising (08:19)
- I unpack the importance of having both focus and broader resilience in your company with a quote from Strava's Mark Gainey (09:44)
- Sangram describes three stages companies go through: problem-market fit, product-market fit, and platform-market fit (11:39)
- Terminus' approach to acquisition (14:00)
- I describe the advantages of growing via acquisition with a quote from Cisco's former Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Padmasree Warrior (15:40)
- How Terminus continued to build demand through community events (18:58)
- I explain why having a strong point of view is so compelling, with a quote from Celonis' Dave Peterson (20:36)
- Why Terminus embraces competitors as a sign of a healthy category (22:28)
- Why creating a new subcategory may be easier than winning a brand preference war (25:10)
- Wrap up (31:59)
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