►
From YouTube: TT330: Sales Stories (Vick Kelkar)
Description
"Sales Stories" is a podcast where we spotlight sales leaders and share their stories and career advice. "Sales Stories" is part of the instructional materials for Tanuki Tech.
For more on Tanuki Tech, see here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/sdr/tanuki-tech/
For more on Christopher Wang, see here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-wang-0835b226/
A
A
A
Hey
everyone,
I'm
very
excited
that
we
have
vic
from
alliances
at
gitlab
here
vic.
How
are
you
doing
today.
A
Yeah
absolutely
so,
particularly,
the
reason
why
I'm
I'm
excited
about
this
session
is
that
vic
is
actually
responsible
for
the
get
lab
red
hat
alliance
and
I
used
to
work
at
red
hat
so
yeah
and
then
just
a
brief
overview
of
what
we're
talking
about
today.
We're
going
to
talk
about
what
alliances
are
about,
what
these
people
do
for
those
of
y'all
they're
out
there
in
the
audience
thinking.
Maybe
this
is
a
move
for
me.
Vic
will
give
us
the
insider
scoop
on.
A
You
know
just
what
the
day-to-day
looks
like
and
we'll
also
talk
about
like
career
progression
right.
So
you
know
if
you're
someone
who's
thinking
about
maybe
one
day
getting
into
alliances,
then
we'll
hear
a
little
bit
about
vic's
personal
story,
but
yeah,
just
starting
out
vic
I'd
love
to
hear
a
little
bit
about
your
professional
journey
in
a
couple
of
minutes.
A
So
it's
just
sort
of
like
what
steered
you
towards
alliances,
and
you
know
tell
me
just
a
little
bit
about
like
how
you
ended
up
in
the
position
that
you're
in
now
today.
B
B
For
the
last
seven
or
eight
years,
I
have
been
focusing
on
being
a
product
manager
right.
So
in
that
capacity
as
a
product
manager,
you
know
you're
looking
at
markets,
you're
looking
at
aggressive
markets
and
then
you're
trying
to
decide
on
one
big
thing,
which
is:
should
you
build
a
product
feature
or
should
you
you
know,
go
buy
a
company
that
will
help
you
accelerate
your
product,
adoption
right
so
from
a
product
perspective?
B
B
B
But
you
know
going
back
to
my
point.
You
know
pivoting
from
product
to
alliances.
A
B
B
A
Yeah
thanks
for
telling
your
story,
I
think
that
that's
really
interesting
one
of
the
things
that
I've
always
kind
of
wondered
about
is
what's
the
intersection
between
channel
and
alliances.
So
for
those
on
this
call
that
are
listening
in
channel
a
lot
of
the
times
is
just
resellers
right,
but
you
know
so
it's
like
almost
like
alliances
are
similar
but
they're
somewhat
different.
Can
you
tell
me
about
like
in
the
business
ecosystem,
how
people
usually
demarcate
between
these
two.
B
B
Obviously
channel
covers
a
lot
of
area,
so
you
know
you
have
system
integrators,
you
have
service
providers,
you
have
resellers,
they
all
sort
of
fall
in
channel,
and
you
know
you
sometimes
say:
hey,
let's
meet
with
the
channel,
because
that's
a
way
of
distributing
your
product
and
sort
of
using
the
network
effect
of
finding
your
partner's
sellers
to
help.
B
B
Can
they
help
us
accelerate
deals,
and
we
have
to
take
a
little
bit
of
a
strategic
annual
view
when
you
talk
about
partnerships
and
alliances,
because
in
alliances
it's
a
it's
a
long-term
sort
of
relationship,
you
have
to
foster
and
develop
over
a
period
of
a
few
quarters,
and
for
that
you
need
to
understand
not
only
the
market
positions
of
your
partner,
but
we
also
need
to
figure
out.
B
You
know
if
there
is
a
competitive
angle
and
then
sort
of
you
know
pursue
that
partnership
going
in
knowing
that
there
may
be
some
conflict
right,
because
gitlab
covers
so
many
different
stages
of
devops.
As
the
platform,
you
will
inherently
have
some
overlap
with
your
strategic
partner
because
they
may
be
developing
a
product
or
a
feature
where
we
also
may
be
interested
in
expanding
our
product
footprint.
So
understanding
that
dynamics
is
important
when
you're
trying
to
develop
and
build
that
alliance
relationship.
A
Yeah,
that's
actually
really
really
interesting
to
me
and
when
I
first
realized
that
we
had
a
alliance
relationship
with
red
hat,
I
immediately
thought
to
myself.
Yes,
you
know
get
the
get
lab
kubernetes
play
is
there,
but,
on
the
other
hand,
ansible
tower,
which
is
one
of
red
hat's
products,
has
some
overlap
with
what
gitlab
actually
brings
to
the
table.
So
I'm
actually
really
curious
about
that.
A
So,
in
these
meetings
that
you
have
with
these
other
alliance
companies,
how
do
you
navigate
some
of
I'm
actually
curious
like
if
I
were
in
these
meetings
like
how
bring
me
inside
your
mind,
like
what
are
you
thinking
about,
and
how
do
you
position
things
and
how
do
you
navigate
some
of
that
conflict?.
B
Yeah,
well,
that's
a
good
question,
so
I
mean,
since
you
came
from
red
hat
right.
Let
me
focus
on
that
partnership
and
that
alliance,
and
you
obviously
have
expertise
there.
So
it'll
be
a
good
conversation
to
have
with
you
around.
You
know
how
I'm
thinking-
and
maybe
you
know
you
can
give
me
some
insider
tips
on
ansible
and
how
to
think
about
the
ansible
ecosystem
right.
So
so
you
know
going
back
to
your
question.
You
know
how
do
you
think
about
developing
this
partnership
right?
Well,
the
red
hat
and
its
parent
company
ibm
like.
A
B
B
B
B
You
know
how
they
think
about
how
to
package
software
right
operators
in
a
very
quick
overview,
it's
about
kubernetes
ecosystem
and
how
to
introduce
domain
knowledge
in
a
kubernetes
cluster
like
openshift
right.
So
this
is
not
a
technical
talk,
but
that's
the
quick
overview
of
what
an
operator
is
so
so
the
question
from
an
alliances
and
strategic
partnership
becomes:
should
we
integrate
with
openshift?
Should
we,
you
know,
look
at
operator
approach,
because
the
other
other
option
is
a
helm
chart
right
both
are
valid
and
both
work
on
well
on
a
kubernetes
cluster.
B
So
those
kind
of
questions
and
concerns
are
things
you
have
to
think
about
when
you
are
talking
about
partnerships
and
how
partners
product
right.
So
let
me
let
me
pause
there
and
just
do
a
quick
check.
Is
that
making
sense
I'm
happy
to
kind
of
expand
on
that
answer
and
continue
this
conversation,
but
at
the
very
basic
level
you
know
that's
what
you're
trying
to
do
and
then
I
can
kind
of
go
a
little
bit
deeper
if
you
want
and
double
click
on
it-
and
you
can
continue
this
example.
A
Yeah
so.
A
Yeah
help
me
help
me
understand
a
little
bit
about
like
the
day-to-day,
so
I'm
walking
through,
like
this
example,
and
just
trying
to
understand
the
story
of
you
just
pictured,
but
you
mentioned
three
things:
ansible
open
shift
and
then
the
juror
marketplace,
but
like
on
a
day-to-day
level
like
what
are
some
of
the
decisions
and
things
that
you're
thinking
about
what
are
some
of
the
meetings
that
you're
having?
A
How
often
are
these
meetings
with,
like
the
actual
alliances
themselves
versus
with
product
and
stuff,
and
then
so
like
from
my
simple
understanding
as
someone
who's
never
done
this
before
like
it
seems
to
me
that,
like
the
answer
for
a
lot
of
these
is
either
yes
or
no
right
like
yes,
we
would
want
to
integrate
with
openshift,
because
if
red
hat
includes
openshift
includes
gitlab
with
openshift,
then
we
get
more
market
share
right.
A
So
it's
just
sort
of
like
I'm
having
a
little
bit
of
trouble
understanding
about,
like
all
of
the
other
things
that
go
into
the
picture.
It
just
seems
kind
of
like
tell
me
more
about
like
what
happens
on
a
day-to-day
basis.
B
Yeah,
that's
a
good
one,
so
you
know,
first
of
all,
alliances
does
sit
in
sales
right,
so
our
so
the
guiding
principle
is
hey.
How
do
we
amplify
the
message
that
has
been
set
by?
You
know
the
sales
leadership
by
the
cro
michael
and
how
do
we
amplify
that
in
the
market?
So
we
also
have
to
you
know.
Take
that
into
consideration.
B
Is
you
know
hey?
Do
we
want
to
go
after
containerized
workloads?
Is
that
going
to
get
us?
You
know?
Is
this
partnership
going
to
get
us?
You
know
it's
the
same
sort
of
okrs
that
are
mentioned
from
you
know
sid
and
the
ceo.
All
the
way
down
is:
will
this
allow
us
to
get
into
a
new
market?
Will
it
allow
us
to
get
some
new
logos
or
will
it
help
us
expand
the
footprint
we
have
to
some
partner
influence
right?
B
A
B
Now
that
doesn't
mean
that
you
know
gke
or
eks
are
not
growing
or
they're,
not
good
for
our
customers,
I'm
just
looking
at
the
verticals
right
where
openshift
is
putting
their
efforts
and
what
are
they
focusing
on
and
can
we
you
know,
do
some
joint
marketing
with
them
along
those
lines
right?
Can
we
go
target
some
financial
institutions,
some
insurance
companies
that
may
have
some
regulations,
and
you
know
regulatory
requirements
for
their
kubernetes
customers,
and
if
the
customer
is
saying
hey,
I
want
to
adapt
openshift
because
of
the
security
compliance
auditing,
traceability
reasons.
B
Then
you
know
we
have
to
help
the
customer
achieve
their
objective
and
I
think
you
know
getting
to
openshift
may
be
one
way
of
doing
that
and
there
are
other
aspects
of
the
partnerships
as
well
right,
since
you
were
involved
in
ansible.
You
know
that's
another
big
play
that
red
hat
is
doing
it
is.
It
is
a
revenue
you
know
generator
for
red
hat.
B
B
A
Yeah,
I
appreciate
you
sharing
that
I
think
so,
how
much
of
that
is
like
solving
a
problem
and
how
much
of
that
is
just
building
relationships
with
relevant
stakeholders
in
our
alliance
relation
and
our
alliance
organizations
right.
So
I
guess
I'm
seeing
two
sides
of
the
fence
here
right,
so
one's
almost
like
a
math
problem,
hey,
we
can
have
a
win-win
situation
if
we
co-sell
here
and
if
I
actually
implement
some
of
your
functionality
here,
so
that
we
don't
do
it
and
we
save
our
engineers
timer.
A
It's
a
hypothetical
situation
right,
so
part
of
that
is
that,
like
analytical
left,
brain
optimization
problem
and
then
the
other
part
of
it
is
that
the
other
organization
is
not
going
to
take
action
unless,
like
I,
have
their
trust
and
have
built
a
relationship
with
them.
So
I
is
that
a
large
part
of
the
job
too,
where
it's
like.
I
remember
when
I
was
in
sales
like
we
taking
all
these
customers
out
to
lunch
and
ultimately
we're
just
trying
to
build
a
relationship
with
them
right.
A
B
B
We
want
to
go,
you
know,
do
some
marketing
co-marketing
at
some
joint
events
or
joint
webinars,
right
and
kind
of
pool
our
resources
and
make
sure
our
messaging
is
complementary
to
each
other
and
is
helping
each
other
out
and
obviously
the
third
one
that
you
touched
on
is
code
cell,
which
doesn't
you
know,
require
some
relationship
building,
as
you
mentioned,
but
if
you,
you
know
it
covers
the
entire
spectrum
right
and
alliance
says
you
know,
I
don't
do
this
alone,
as
I
am
forming
that
partnership
outside.
B
So
you
know
I
have
to
build
that
business
case
and
check
the
product,
engineering
and
others
in
the
organization
like
marketing
is
will
be
involved
as
well.
So
it's
a
relationship
building
exercise
internally
as
well
as
external.
So
I
think
sometimes
people
don't
realize
that
hey.
You
have
to
have
a
strong
internal
relationship
before
you
can
go
external.
A
That's
interesting
thanks
for
answering
that
I
I
have
so
one
thing
that
you
mentioned
earlier,
that
I
want
to
circle
back
on,
and
that's
really
interesting
to
me
is
that
you
are
you
actually
sit
in
the
sales
organization,
so
talk
to
me
about
like
how
the
compensation
structure
for
people
and
alliances
work?
Is
it
that
like
so,
for
instance,
is
it
like?
Did
you
have
a
quota,
or
is
it
just
sort
of
like
all
of
the
money
that
comes
in
from
a
certain
alliance
partner?
A
B
B
Numbers,
but
from
my
experience
it
can
go
both
ways
and
what
I
mean
by
both
ways
is:
I
have
seen
you
know,
partnerships
and
alliances,
team,
sort
of
focus
on
quota
which
may
be
you
know,
cell
with
in
a
cell
too
right-
and
I
have
seen
them
not
focus
on
quotas
either
because
you
know
from
a
strategic
perspective
right
some
of
those
relationships
take
time
to
develop
and
take
time
to
deliver
right.
So
that's
not
something
you
can
do
in
a
quarter.
B
So
it's
a
you
know
it's
a
leadership
decision
on
how
you
want
the
team
to
focus
on
and
what
should
they
focus
on
right?
Because
if
you
let's
say,
if
you
give
a
quota,
then
you
know
my
focus
is
going
to
be
to
focus
on
hitting
that
target
right.
This
border
and,
for
example,
red
hat,
may
not
happen
in
one
quarter
right.
A
B
B
That
may
not
be
achievable
unless
we
reach
an
alignment
between
the
two
organizations
like
hey,
we
need
to
hit
this
target
and
then
we
start
having
weekly
meetings
and
stand-ups
to
keep
each
other
accountable
and
drive
towards
that
shared
goal
right.
So
I'm
probably
not
answering
your
question
completely,
but
the
way
I
would
structure
it
is
depends
on.
You
know
what
we're
driving
towards
right,
because
if
we
are
trying
to
enter
new
markets
or
we're
building
relationships
inside
of
cloud
providers,
you
know
that
that
does
take
time,
but
the
benefit
and
the
outcome.
B
You
know,
I
think,
if
you
saw
what
michael
could
we
said
in
yesterday's
sales
call
right.
The
google
partnership
is
an
exact
it's
a
great
example
right.
My
aunt
has
been
working
on
my
colleague
my
aunt
has
been
working
on
google.
B
B
A
Gotcha,
I
always
thought
that
one
of
the
things
that
was
kind
of
interesting
about
alliances
is
that
in
the
kubernetes
play
that's
a
red
hat
alliance,
but
you
also
have
a
peer
who
works
for
us
who
manages
the
vmware
alliance
and
so
for
those
that
are
listening.
Vmware
and
red
hat
are
actually
competitors
and
they're,
both
specifically
kubernetes
competitors.
A
So
I
always
thought
that
was
interesting
to
me
that,
like
I,
I
guess
like
to
rephrase.
We
want
an
alliance
with
both
because
if
they
pitch
gitlab,
then
gitlab
wins
right,
but
it's
almost
like
we're
selling
to
both
companies
yeah.
So
I
just
I
always
find
that
kind
of
interesting.
B
Well,
you
know
you
want
to
think
about
the
overall
market
right
and
you
want
to
focus
on
what
the
customer
wants
to
be
right.
It's
not
what
we
want
to
do.
It's
not
going
back
to
your
point
like
it's,
not
something
that
we
just
want
to
do
that
integration
for
the
integration's
sake
right.
There
has
to
be
a
customer
demand
providing
that
integration
same
way.
B
B
Similarly,
we
should
not
also
just
kind
of
focus
in
on
just
one
of
those
kubernetes
distribution
right.
We
want
to
address
the
pain
point.
A
customer
is
trying
to
solve
with
a
container
solution,
but
the
decision
about
which
container
platform
they're
going
to
pick
is
not
a
decision
we
can
influence
or
we
want
to
influence
right.
Each
one
of
these
platforms
has
a
strong
position.
There
is
some
differentiating
factor
right
between
google,
anthos,
vmware,
tanzu
and
red
hat
open
share.
So
you
know
we
want
to
be
good
partners
to
them.
B
We
are
very
transparent
as
a
company,
so
you
know
we
do
tell
the
partners
that
hey,
we
are
not
building
a
mutually
exclusive
relationship.
Here
we
are
working
with
some
of
the
other
platform
providers
in
the
market
because
the
customer
has
asked
for
that
right.
So
for
me
the
focus
is
always
do
we
have
a
customer
in
mind.
Do
we
have
a
use
case
to
build
this
partnership
on
right,
because
otherwise,
there's
just
too
many
companies
out
there
where
we
will
just
continue
to
integrate
and
not
necessarily
you
know,
reach
the
customer.
B
So
my
first
question
always
is
hey:
do
we
have
a
customer
in
mind,
and
can
we
take
that
customer
on
this
journey
with
us,
as
we
build
out
that
integration
right
so
and
red
hat
has
been
in?
My
experience
has
been
you
know
forthcoming,
like
we
just
had
a
product
management
sync
meeting
where
the
product
managers
got
together
and
discussed.
You
know
what
the
integrations
will
look
like
and
what
is
the
potential
customer
or
at
least
identify
a
particular.
A
Well,
I
really
appreciate
you
sharing
your
story.
This
was
super
knowledgeable.
Even
for
me,
I
just
tying
things
back
together.
I'm
curious
for
those
in
our
audience
that
are
thinking
like
wow.
This
sounds
really
interesting.
I
really
like
what
vic
just
shared.
I
really
like
how
strategic
it
is,
how
you're
thinking
long
term
to
solve
business
problems
and
to
ultimately
expand
our
market.
A
So
my
last
two
questions
are:
what
type
of
people
do
you
think
would
be
so
like,
let's
just
say
that
you're,
a
hiring
manager
for
people
in
alliances
and
you're
interviewing
all
of
these
people.
Some
of
these
candidates
come
from
google
big.
You
know
fang
tech
companies
stuff
like
that.
So
what
are
the
things
that
you
look
for
in
a
candidate
and
what
would
be
your
advice
to
someone
who
is
trying
to
eventually
pivot
into
alliances,
and
so
the
first
part
of
that
question?
A
Obviously
they
have
to
have
the
experience,
but
in
terms
of
the
actual
personality
characteristics
so
like
strategic
good
at
public
speaking
good
at
building
relationships.
I'm
curious
as
to
yeah,
so
just
to
summarize,
I'm
curious
as
to
the
type
of
people
that
you'd
look
for
both
from
an
experience
and
personality
point
of
view
and
then
also
what
your
advice
would
be
to
someone
who's
trying
to
pivot
and
think
about
this
for
their
career.
B
Yeah
and
we
saved
the
tough
ones
for
the
last
one
right,
but
it's
always
it's
always
very
subjective
right.
The
answers
you
know
it
may
be
different
if
you
ask
my
vp
who
will
have
a
slightly
different
answer,
but
here's
here's
my
perspective
on
those.
You
know
questions
you
know.
First
of
all,
you
have
to
think
about
alliances
right
you
when
you
walk
in
into
a
conversation
or
when
you're
trying
to
negotiate.
B
You
know
a
partnership
you're
representing
the
company
right.
So
it's
it's
it's
important
for
you
to
understand
the
product.
It's
important
for
you
to
know
the
market
dynamics
right.
I
think
you
picked
up
on
it
very
quickly.
The
vmware
kanzu
versus
the
red
hat
openshift
right,
the
competitive
nature
and
the
competitive
aspect
of
it.
So
having
that
sort
of
understanding
of
the
market
and
the
different
players
in
the
market
really
helps.
B
When
you
are,
you
know
trying
to
join
the
alliance's
team
or
for
that
matter
it's
also
important.
You
know
when
you
are
in
channel
right,
like
which
channel
partners
should
you
go
after
right,
which
service
integrator?
Should
you
work
with
and
the
more
important
question
becomes,
which
ones
you
should
not
work
with
right,
so
a
little
bit
of
analytical
skills,
understanding
the
market
dynamics.
You
know
soft
skills
become
very
important
ability
to
speak
and
listen
right.
It's
it's
also
true
in
sales
right.
B
You
want
to
hear
the
customer.
Not
just
you
know
tell
them
about
your
product
right.
You
want
to
solve
their
problem.
You
want
to
understand
what
strategy
they
are
going
after
and
how
you
can
play
a
part
in
it.
So
it's
a
little
bit
of
soft
skills.
You
know
ability
to
continue
a
conversation
right
because
you
may
become
the
person
who
will
be
used
as
the
primary
person
to
talk
to
the
next
organization
or
the
other
organization
right.
So
strong
opinions
are
important,
but
they
should
be
loosely
held.
B
That's
what
I
would
say
in
alliances,
it's
okay
to
advocate
for
your
product,
but
at
the
same
time
you
also
need
to
understand
the
other
side
and
try
to
look
for
that
win-win
situation.
So
I
don't
know
to
summarize,
I
would
say
I'm
looking
for
somebody.
You
know
who
will
have
that
market
dynamics.
You
know
knowledge,
maybe
a
little
bit
diplomatic
in
nature
right,
because
there
will
be
some
tough
conversations.
There
will
be
conflict
and
ability
to
resolve
those
conflicts.
B
While
you
know
making
sure
that
you
don't
you
know,
destroy
the
partnership
right,
there
will
be
conflicts,
every
partnerships
will
have
conflicts
and
your
ability
to
deal
with
those
conflicts.
You
know
in
a
professional
manner
in
a
diplomatic
manner
will
be
important.
B
So
if
you're
thinking
about
a
career
in
this,
that's
what
I
will
say
is
try
to
develop
a
little
bit
of
your
soft
skills
and
try
to
start
being
a
little
bit
diplomatic.
But
that
doesn't
mean
you
know
you
should
not
advocate
for
your
product
right.
So
it's
a
fine
line,
but
I
think
that's
what
I
would
be
looking
for.
B
B
Just
from
my
personal
experience,
I
have
done
engineering
I
have
done
product
have
done
a
little
bit
of
marketing
now,
I'm
in
sales
and
alliances
right
so
try
to
try
to
you
know,
look
for
areas
of
interest
that
will
excite
you
and-
and
it's
also
a
little
bit
of
an
organizational
structure.
You
know
thing
where
some
people,
like
big
organizations
where
everything
is
codified
and
has
been
already
been
regimented
and
they
just
have
to
follow
a
checklist.