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Revenue Builders

Revenue Builders

Written by: Force Management
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About this listen

 Welcome to the Revenue Builders podcast, a weekly show featuring B2B sales leaders and executives. Hosted by Five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management’s Co-Founder John Kaplan, the show goes in the barrel, behind the scenes with the people who have been there, done that and seen the results. Revenue Builders covers the best practices for scaling and growing your business, while sharing the pitfalls to avoid. Great conversation. Solid interviews. Tangible takeaways to help you succeed. If you enjoy our content, please subscribe, rate and review the show to help us reach more people. This show is brought to you by: Force Management where we help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Check out forcemanagement.com more information.2022 - Force Management Economics Leadership Management Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • Sales as the System and Why Founders Must Own the Problem with Lou Shipley

    Sales as the System and Why Founders Must Own the Problem with Lou Shipley
    Apr 16 2026

    Most companies don’t fail because of product, they fail because they never build a clear, repeatable sales system around a problem that actually matters. That shows up early when founders delegate sales too soon, chase broad markets without focus, and struggle to translate technical insight into customer urgency. In this conversation, Lou Shipley brings a career spanning door-to-door selling to leading and teaching at Harvard to break down what separates companies that scale from those that stall. He introduces frameworks like the “problem with the problem” and the “murder board,” while reinforcing a consistent theme: sales is not a downstream function, it is the organizing discipline of the business. For leaders trying to build a high-performance culture or evaluate their next move, this conversation clarifies what to look for and what to avoid.

    Lou Shipley is a three-time CEO, Harvard Business School professor, and author of Unlikely Entrepreneurs. He has led multiple startups and previously taught sales at MIT.

    Connect with Lou:

    • LinkedIn
    • Website

    Resources mentioned:

    • Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Wins, Losses, and Crucial Lessons on Building Great Companies by N. Louis Shipley and Patricia Favreau

    Key takeaways from this episode:

    • 00:00 – How Lou Shipley built his sales foundation on 100% commission
    • 06:00 – The 30-second mistake sellers keep making and how it kills deals early
    • 10:33 – Why Lou Shipley believes emotional connection to the problem changes everything
    • 25:55 – Why founders who delegate sales too early almost always get it wrong
    • 33:33 – A behind-the-scenes look at how great teams pressure-test their strategy before the market does
    • 40:22 – The three questions that instantly expose whether a company is worth joining
    • 44:25 – Why narrowing your ICP is the fastest path to real revenue growth, not a limitation
    • 58:33 – The real reason most companies fail before they ever scale

    Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results.

    This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale.

    Connect with Us:

    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    • Force Management
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • The Feature Trap: Why Enterprise Buyers Don’t Care with John Donnelly

    The Feature Trap: Why Enterprise Buyers Don’t Care with John Donnelly
    Apr 12 2026

    Today, we’re revisiting a segment from our episode on selling enterprise software and connecting technical capabilities to business outcomes with John Donnelly. John is a seasoned enterprise sales leader with deep experience scaling complex sales motions across organizations like MobileIron and Kana. In this clip, he breaks down why so many sellers default to features, where discovery goes wrong, and how the best reps connect technical differentiation to real business impact to win complex deals.

    John Donnelly is a seasoned enterprise sales leader and CRO with a track record of scaling high-growth organizations through IPOs and acquisitions, known for helping teams translate technical capabilities into measurable business outcomes.

    Connect with John:

    • LinkedIn

    Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results.

    This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale.

    Connect with Us:

    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    • Force Management
    Show More Show Less
    8 mins
  • Why 70% of Your Pipeline is Outside Your ICP with Dan Sperring

    Why 70% of Your Pipeline is Outside Your ICP with Dan Sperring
    Apr 9 2026
    Most revenue teams believe they have a definedIdeal Customer profile (ICP), but the reality is far less precise, with the majority of pipeline often sitting outside the segments that actually drive retention and expansion. This disconnect creates inefficiency across marketing, sales, and customer success, and is only amplified by AI-driven outreach that scales poor targeting. Dan Sperring, founder and CEO of Align ICP, breaks down why ICP must evolve from a static definition into a dynamic operating system rooted in use cases, lifetime value, and market health. The conversation challenges traditional go-to-market structures, highlights the risks of misaligned incentives, and offers a clear framework for building predictable, durable growth. Dan Sperring is the founder and CEO of AlignICP, a company focused on helping revenue teams align around high-value customer segments to drive predictable growth. He brings experience across customer success, revenue leadership, and scaling SaaS businesses through product-market and go-to-market alignment. Connect with Dan: AlignICPLinkedIn Books mentioned: The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. ChristensenThe Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. RaynorPredictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and ​​Marylou Tyler Amp It Up by Frank Slootman Tools and podcasts mentioned: clay.comzoominfo.comThe Science of Scaling Podcast Get the Force Management framework for aligning your ICP, sales motion, and customer lifecycle around high-value use cases and measurable business outcomes: The Predictable Revenue Framework: Guide for Leaders Key takeaways from this episode: 00:00 – What Dan Sperring really thinks about ICP and why 70% of pipeline is wasted before it even starts14:12 – Why use case is the signal most teams miss and what actually predicts expansion and retention 23:37 – What high-performing ICPs all have in common and why most segments fail one of the three tests 25:21 – The hidden tradeoff between product-market fit and sales complexity that early teams underestimate 40:27 – A peek into what really breaks when sales and customer success are separated across the customer journey 56:06 – How top teams shift comp from bookings to LTV and what that unlocks in pipeline quality and predictability Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management Co-Founder John Kaplan, the Revenue Builders podcast goes behind the scenes with the sales leaders who have been there, done that, and seen the results. This show is brought to you by Force Management. We help companies improve sales performance, executing their growth strategy at the point of sale. Connect with Us: LinkedInYouTubeForce Management
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    1 hr and 7 mins
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