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From YouTube: TT330: Sales Stories (Kim Stagg)
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
A
Yeah,
so
just
for
just
for
those
of
y'all
that
haven't
met
kim.
Yet
she
is
newer
to
our
organization,
but
kim
has
a
really
great
extensive
background
in
channel
and
channel
operations
so
for
those
of
y'all
that
are
considering
maybe
pivoting
into
this
for
your
career.
At
some
point,
I
brought
her
on
the
show
just
so
that
she
could
tell
a
little
bit
about
her
story
and
to
tell
what
life
and
channel
is
like
so
kim.
A
I
think
that
that's
probably
a
really
great
place
to
start
like
would
you
mind
giving
us
like
a
overview,
a
little
bit
of
your
career.
I
know
that
I
think
that
you're,
a
channel
account
manager
first
and
then,
eventually,
you
made
it
into
operations.
So
I'd
love
to
hear
your
story
about
how
you
started
out
in
channel
moving
over
from
sales
to
channel
what
appealed
to
you
about
that
and
what
eventually
led
you
to
general
operations
and
some
of
the
things
you
learned
along
the
way.
B
Sure
I
actually
started
my
career
working
for
a
distributor
which
is
their
channel
partners.
We
do
work
with
distributors
throughout
the
world
and
I
was
a
sales
rep.
So
as
a
distribution
sales
rep,
I
called
on
resellers
and
those
resellers
sold
to
end
users
very
early
on.
I
really
enjoyed
the
process
of
selling.
You
know
I
used
to
get
in
and
reorganize
team
mailboxes
and
make
up
processes
to
make
things
easier.
That
was
like
we
were
on
a
team
of
four,
and
that
was
always
my
niche
like
what?
B
What
are
you
gonna
do?
But
you
know,
selling
in
the
channel
in
general
is
very
very
relationship.
Based
I
mean
sales
in
general
is.
B
The
channel
is
all
about
partnerships,
it's
companies
working
together
to
get
to
a
common
goal,
whether
that
goal
I
mean
it's
typically
selling
a
product,
but
when
you
have
multiple
organizations
working
toward
selling
the
same
product,
obviously
the
success
of
every
level
is
important,
because
if
one
level
fails,
then
the
sale
doesn't
go
through.
B
So
when
you're
working
in
the
channel,
you
need
to
remember
that
it's
not
just
your
company,
it's
there's,
you
know
numerous
other
companies
in
that
pipeline,
which
means
pipeline
is
also
very
interesting
to
manage
and
it's
different
and
you
have
to
like
go
to
other
people
like.
Oh,
what's
your
commit?
It's
not
just
you
and
the
end
user
anymore.
There's
there's
other
people
involved.
So
I
I
was
in
my
early
20s
and
I
just
really
fell
in
love
with
organizing
it
and
people.
B
But
I
really
love
helping
people
yeah
and
that's
that's
what
spoke
to
me
about
the
channel
and
especially
that
those
first
10
years
when
I
was
working
with
distribution
was,
I
wasn't
just
selling
a
product
I
mean
I
was
selling
a
lot
of
products,
lots
of
different
vendors,
but
it
was
always.
B
You
know
I
always
took
the
perspective
of
I'm
only
going
to
sell
it
if
it's
helpful
and
what
I'm
doing
is
helping
my
partners
as
well.
So
I
really
enjoyed
that.
I
had
a
little
stint
off
in
marketing
because
I
wanted
to
be
a
writer
that
was
great.
It
wasn't
for
me,
like
I
thought
so
I
jumped
back
into
sales
and
specialized
in
virtualization
for
a
little
while.
A
What
what
product
I'm
curious.
B
B
Exactly
exactly
and
then
I
worked
with
the
red-headed
stepchild
of
the
five
thousand
pound
giant
and
I
managed
the
renewals
vmware
renewals
for
a
lot
of
years.
It
was
exhausting
but
rewarding
work,
and
it
was
you
know,
virtualization
was
exploding.
B
Sas
was
exploding
at
that
time,
so
it
was
very
exciting
and
there's
a
lot
of
things
going
on,
but
you
know
my
life
took
me
to
michigan,
so
I
I
left
the
company
where
I
was,
and
that
was
in
florida
and
I
moved
to
michigan
to
become
a
channel
account
manager,
which
is
really
what
I
wanted.
I
wanted
to
work
for
a
vendor.
I
didn't
really
care
if
it
was
software
or
hardware.
B
I
fell
into
software
and
have
stayed
here
since
2010.,
and
I
everything
that
I
just
said
about
partnerships
like
times
10
when
you're
working
for
a
vendor,
because
now
it's
your
product
that
you
have
to
sell
when
I
was
working
for
distribution
with
vmware,
I
didn't
work
for
vmware.
B
I
worked
for
the
distribution
partner,
so
the
relationships
that
I
made
as
a
cam.
They
were
not
just
with
sales
people.
I
was
working
with
vps.
In
some
cases
ceos
you
know,
I
was
going
to
very
high
level
meetings
and
learning
to
negotiate
learning
to
budget.
B
It
was
there's
a
lot
of
selling
involved,
but
it's
not
the
majority.
It's
a
probably
it's
a
good
50.
50
split.
You
have
to
know
your
your
partners,
you
have
to
know
their
business
and
you
use
that
to
influence
the
selling
more
and,
like
you
know,
that's
when
you
get
involved
in
in
programs.
Like
you
know,
we
have
a
channel
programs
team,
that's
separate
from
channel
operations
here
at
get
lab
and
like
that's
what
they
do.
You
know
it's
like.
You
have
to
learn
all
the
programs.
B
We
have
our
own
program,
it
intermingles
with
some
of
our
partners
programs,
and
so
it's
a
it's
a
lot
of.
B
The
sale
doesn't
just
end
the
process,
you
finish
the
sale
and
there's
always
more
because
it's
you're
not
working
with
end
users.
So
you
don't
just
move
on
to
the
next
you're
working
with
the
partners,
so
that
sale
is
finished
and
you're
like
on
the
phone
the
next
day,
like
hey.
What
else
is
in
your
pipeline
that
I
can
help
you
with?
So
it's
it's
a
lot
of
communicating
and
I
I
really
enjoyed
that.
I
got
to
work
with
different
levels
and
everything.
A
I
I
think,
almost
like
the
complexity
and
just
regular
like
the
business
sales,
that's
like
you
have
to
navigate
the
social
hierarchy
and
that
whole
like
network
of
relationships
and
figure
out
the
economic,
buyer
and
everything,
and
it's
just
sort
of
like,
as
opposed
to
doing
that
very
customer
you're
doing
it
for
like
these
other
partner
organizations,
and
you
might
have
multiple
of
them.
That
sounds.
B
Usually,
organizations
will
like
the
company
that
I
worked
for
at
the
time
it
was
a
very
small
company.
There
was
less
than
300
employees,
so
I
had
a
lot
on
my
plate.
I
worked
with
distributors
and
resellers
and
a
few
like
there
was
a
few
systems
integrators
that
I
worked
with.
Typically
you
specialized
like
by
name.
B
I
worked
with
distributors,
so
I
got
to
specialize
in
that
and
I
didn't
have
to
know
as
much
about
the
others
so
throughout
pretty
much
throughout
my
career
distribution
has
been
my
specialty,
and
that
makes
it
a
lot
easier
because
it
is
a
lot
to
know,
and
there
are
a
lot
of
people-
and
you
know
my
other
career
option
was
actually
I
wanted
to
be
a
therapist
or
go
into
psychology,
which
is
drastically
different.
B
I
know,
but
it's
actually
not,
because
when
you're
working
in
sales
and
you're
working
with
sales
people,
so
in
the
channel
you
work
with
other
sales
people,
it's
important
to
know
like
what
motivates
human
beings
on
the
larger
scale,
because
I
mean
just
think
about
it.
Like
I
mean,
let's
talk
about
hardware,
it's
easy
for
a
second
there's,
a
gazillion
companies
that
make
keyboards
right.
Why,
if
you
work
for
one
of
those
vendors,
why
sell
my
keyboard
as
opposed
to
that
keyboard
or
the
other
keyboard?
So
you
have
to
incentivize
people
appropriately.
B
A
That's
really
interesting,
so
I
I
have
so
many
questions
actually
before
we
dive
into
some
of
the
questions
that
I
have
thanks
for
such
a
great
explanation
about
channel
like
sales,
it's
honestly
on
the
I've
just
experienced
channel
sales
through
my
side,
defense,
which
was
on
the
you,
know
the
essay
sales
side
itself
and
then
just
honestly
hearing
about
people
complaining
about
channel
partners
trying
to
get
unfair
margins
like
all
the
time.
A
That's
like
90
percent
of
all
that
I
heard
of
whenever,
like
we
talked
about
channel
partners,
but
what
so,
thanks
for
the
explanation
about
channel
being
a
channel
account
manager?
That's
super
fascinating
for
me.
Can
you
walk
me
through
the
rest
of
your
journey
to
channel
operations
so
just
sort
of
like
so
I
I
remember
like
there
is
always
like
a
team
of
people
that,
if
you
wanted
like
a
salesforce
dashboard
or
like
you
know,
some
data
pulled
out
or
something
like
that,
then
that's
what
sales
operations
was.
A
So
is
it
fair
to
say
that
channel
operations
is
just
sort
of
like
the
equivalent
of
that,
except
for
channel
or
like?
Can
you
tell
me
the
distinction
between
sales,
ops
and
channel
operations?
So
I
guess
it's
a
multi-faceted
question
but
like
what?
What
is
channel
operations
and
what
drew
you
there
just
to.
B
B
I
was
just
like:
hey
I'm
good
at
this,
and
that
followed
me
through
all
of
my
roles
and
at
one
point
at
my
last
company
I
met
with
my
vice
president,
and
I
was
like
you
have
some
major
things
missing
here,
like
organization
conversation
between
these
two
teams
and
like
how
is
that
going
to
work
and
how?
How
are
we
going
to
manage
our
our
partner
relationships
when
everything
that
we
have
set
up
for
salesforce
is
only
managing
our
customer
relationships
because
they're
different
and
he
was
like?
B
Oh
that's
a
really
good
point
and
I
was
like
well
here's
what
I
see
and
I
pitched
something
to
him
like
over
lunch.
You
know
it
was
not
well
thought
out
and
two
weeks
later
I
had
a
new
job
as
the
channel
operations
manager
at
my
company
and
I
was
no
longer
selling.
I
was
organizing.
B
B
I
I
didn't
actually
like
in
my
brain,
walk
the
process
of
this
means.
You
might
have
a
new
job
in
a
month,
but
it
worked
out
very
well
for
me,
so
I'm
not
I'm
not
mad
about
it
and
so
for
at
the
beginning.
That's
what
operations
was
for
me,
making
sure
things
work.
So,
yes,
that
is
very
similar
to
sales
operations.
We
make
sure
things
work,
but
the
specifics
are
very
nuanced.
B
So
I
actually
work
very
closely
with
the
sales
ops
team
here
at
get
lab,
but
obviously
how
you,
because
of
just
the
way
I
described
sales,
it's
so
much
relationship
and
so
much.
You
know
relying
on
somebody
else
to
give
you
information
on
the
stage
of
a
sale
like
if
a
reseller
is
working
the
sale
and
we're
just
kind
of
in
the
background,
letting
them
manage
that
sale.
We
are
completely
reliant
on
them
to
give
us
information,
which
means
we're
going
to
have
to
manage
that
differently
within
salesforce.
B
So,
for
example,
we're
doing
now
is
a
partner
account
is
going
to
look
very
differently
than
a
customer
account
in
salesforce,
because
we
need
to
know
different
things.
You
know
we
need
to
know
a
lot
of
the
specifics
of
a
customer
account.
We
need
to
know
for
partners
hey
what
level
partner
are
they
do?
They
have
any
certifications
on
our
products.
What
do
they
specialize
in?
Do
they
typically
sell
devops
or
are
you
know,
do
they
just
have
a
customer
that
needed
it?
So
they
wanted
to
sell
it.
B
That's
pretty
rare
in
the
devops
space,
but
it
does
happen.
So
I
work
side
by
side
with
sales
ops
in
terms
of
building
the
things
in
salesforce
making
sure
they
work
making
sure
the
integrations
work
between
our
partner
portal
and
salesforce,
because
in
sales
you
do
a
lot
for
your
customer.
B
You
make
sure
everything
happens
yeah
they
might
like
sign
up
for
something
and
do
a
little
self-serve,
but
we
require
our
partners
to
go,
create
an
account
in
our
partner
portal
so
that
they
can
do
training
so
that
they
can
get
certifications
so
that
they
can
register
deals.
So
we
know
what
they're
working
on,
and
so
it's
a
lot
of
enablement.
A
Gotcha
yeah,
so
thanks
for
that
explanation
and
I
loved
hearing
your
story-
I
I
guess
my
follow-up
question
is
and
just
a
little
bit
of
context
for
those
that
may
not
know
what,
like
the
different
tier
of
channel
partners,
is
typically
there's
different
tiers
and
the
different
tiers
get
different
discounts
and
to
get
into
tier
one
or
tier
two.
You
have
to
get
certifications
and
stuff
like
that,
but
kim
I'd
love
to
hear
about.
I
guess
we've
already
touched
a
little
bit
on
this.
A
So
correct
me
if
I'm
wrong,
but
like
the
day-to-day
for
actually
there
there's
just
so
many
things
that,
like
I'd,
love
to
learn
more
about
channel,
has
always
been
one
of
those
things
where
it's
like
it's
kind
of
been
mysterious
to
me.
So
I'm
glad
that
I
have
you
on
the
show,
but
actually,
let's
just
take
a
more
macro
oriented
question
right
now,
so
what
sort
of
companies
invest
in
channel?
A
So
like?
Obviously,
it's
a
more
advanced
sales
play
right,
so
you
have
a
startup.
You
build
a
product
once
the
product
feels
sales
worthy,
then
you
start
investing
in
marketing
and
your
direct.
You
know
to
business
sales
if
you're
you're
selling
to
corporations,
but
it
then
at
a
certain
point
in
time
you
want
to
invest
in
building
an
out
the
channel
right.
So
if
you
have
other
people
selling
your
stuff,
then
that
just
enforces
your
bottom
line
too
you
incentivize
them.
You
give
them
a
discount.
A
I
I
guess
it's
a
two-part
question:
how
mature
in
a
company's
timeline,
would
a
company
start
thinking
about
investing
in
channel?
Just
because
that's
a
lot
of
resources
right,
I
imagine,
and
it's
probably
a
long
term
play.
Is
that
fair
yeah?
What
do
you
think
about
that?
A
B
There's
no
specific
formula
that
makes
it
work
that
way.
There
are
organizations
that
start
up
and
they
go
all
channel
and
they
don't
sell
direct.
They
don't
have
a
direct
sales
team.
So
sometimes
that's
part
of
the
initial
business
plan.
It's.
B
We
are
going
to
invest
in
the
channel
instead
of
investing
in
our
own
sales
organization.
Why?
Maybe
it
maybe
it's
reach?
Maybe
it's
silicon
valley,
but
you
know
they're
selling,
all
over
the
world
so
to
bring
on
and
hire
sales
people
all
over.
The
world
doesn't
work
for
where
they
want
to
put
their
focus
a
lot
of
times.
B
It's
a
hybrid
like
what
you
just
described
like
you,
get
going
for
a
little
while
you
get
a
little
traction
and
then
you
go
into
the
channel
market
and
then
sometimes
it's
been
a
really
long
time.
I
know
companies
that
have
been
in
existence
for
20
years
and
then
get
into
the
channel,
and
you
can
you
can
kind
of
move
around.
It's
not
necessarily
encouraged,
but,
like
you
join
the
channel,
you
know.
Maybe
you
go.
B
You
know
half
direct
half
channel
and
then
that
that
kind
of
moves
a
little
bit
it
really
there's.
It
really
depends
on
the
specific
company.
There's
not
like
you
should
be
here
before
you
jump
into
channel,
and
one
of
the
reasons
for
that
is
because
one
of
the
biggest
benefits
to
working
with
the
channel
is
simply
put
business
process
outsourcing,
whatever
you
want
to
call
it,
whether
it's
sales,
whether
it's
business
planning,
whether
it's
managing
qbrs
channel
partners,
help
with
that
everything.
I've
said
because
I
was
in
channel
sales
for
most
of
my
career.
B
I
just
focused
a
lot
on
sales
stuff,
but
there's
a
lot
of
other
pieces
to
the
channel.
They
can
help
with
routes
to
market.
B
You
know
it's
a
list
of
license
codes,
but
it
does
happen
if
you're
working
with
a
software
company
that
has
been
selling
perpetual
licenses,
which
means
you
sell
the
license
once
and
they
own
it
forever,
and
that
company
wants
to
move
to
a
sas
model
like
ours,
which
is
where
you
have
to
buy
it
every
month
or
every
year.
You
know
like
you,
just
continually
pay
for
it.
Channel
partners
can
help
with
that
process.
B
So
there's
a
lot
of
reasons
other
than
just
sales.
Obviously,
if
you're
a
startup
and
you've
been
around,
for
I
don't
know
a
year
or
two
like
if
you're
really
young
and
you
start
working
with
some
big
channel
partners,
you're
gonna
automatically
have
a
much
larger
sales
force
than
you
could
have
hired
right
away.
A
B
Margin
is
a
touchy
thing
there
a
lot
of
times
it
has
to
do
with
the
products
position
in
the
market.
B
For
example,
like
I
said,
I
worked
with
vmware,
you
know
a
little
over
a
decade
ago,
so
vmware
was
hot
back
then
I
mean
they
still
are
they're
they're
huge
but
like
they
were
legitimately
exploding,
so
everybody
wanted
to
sell
it.
So
we
didn't
have
to
offer
huge
margins.
B
Gitlab
is
a
very
hot
product
when,
when
products
kind
of
get
out
of
that,
oh
my
gosh,
I
need
to
have
it,
then
you
might
need
to
incentivize
with
a
little
more
margin
back
end
front
end.
However,
you
you
know
whatever
that
looks
like
whether
it's
rebates
or
off
the
front,
but
a
lot
of
times
with
hot
products
like
our
products
here,
the
channel
partners
want
to
sell
it
because
it's
what
their
customers
want,
and
one
of
the
the
biggest
benefits
to
channel
partners
is
that
they
have
relationships
with
the
end
users.
C
B
So
you
have,
you
know
a
person
who
works,
you
know
for
say
for
git
lab
and
they
are
trying
to
get
in
with
an
end
user,
because
we
think
that
we'd
be
a
good
fit
right.
They
have
to
go
and
do
all
the
work
to
figure
out.
What
are
they
using?
How
can
we
be
of
service?
B
B
A
Yeah
so
correct
me
if
I'm
wrong,
but
so
the
the
reason
why
a
business
would
want
to
invest
in
channel
is
one.
It
helps
them
scale
out
their
sales
force,
let's
just
say,
you're
a
small
company
and
there's
this
huge,
reseller
or
channel
partner,
then
all
of
a
sudden
you
theoretically
have
like
10
000
people,
selling
your
good
and
and
then
the
oh.
So
the
other
benefit
is
that
making
all
these
relationships
takes
time
and
money
right.
A
So
you
have
to
invest
in
your
marketing
and
then
you
have
sdr
and
then
that's
how
you
get
leads,
but
if
they,
if
these
channel
partners
already
have
a
relationship
into
all
these
accounts,
then
times
money
right,
so
you're
willing
to
give
the
channel
partners
a
discount
just
because
you've
saved
time
in
getting
that
lead
and
if
you're,
a
small
guy
they
they
might
not
have
heard
of
you.
So
they
might
not
like
want
to
have
a
conversation
with
you
too.
A
But
if
it's
some
really
big
reseller
like
what
what's
the
big
one,
that's
gosh!
It's
it's
not
coming
to
my
head
right
now,
but
like
can
you
name
me
some
big
resellers,
like
just
for
the
audience
here.
B
Sure
so
cdw
is
the
biggest
cdw.
A
lot
of
people
have
heard
of
cdw.
You
can
just
go
on
their
website
and
order
things
as
well
and
they're
everywhere.
Shi
is
another
big
one
and
you
may
have
heard
of
insight.
They've
been
around
a
lot,
you
know,
even
in
just
like
I've,
seen
some
insight
commercials
lately
they
just
acquired
a
whole
bunch
of
companies
over
the
past
five
years.
So
these
are
big
like
worldwide
companies.
Software
one
is
another
one
and
they
have
a
pretty
big
presence.
B
You
know
throughout
the
world.
So
that's
that's
really
great.
When
you
know
you're
gitlab
is
special
because
we
do
have
a
worldwide
presence
because
of
the
business
model
that
we
have,
but
outside
of
that,
if
you
think
like
hi,
I
go
to
an
office
in
you
know
this
town
in
this
state
in
the
u.s,
but
I
call
on
people
in
latin
america.
C
A
I'd
love
to
what
one
interesting
question
they
have
is
all
right.
So
I
recently
was
buying
this
service
through
this
website,
and
then
I
had
a
direct
message
and
the
fees
were
honestly
like
30
to
40
and
what
I
ended
up
doing
is
just
like
direct
messaging.
This
is
actually
airbnb,
so
like
the
cleaning
fee
and
all
this
other
stuff
was
like
40
my
bill.
So
I
actually,
maybe
I
shouldn't
tell
this
story
but
bottom
line.
Is
that
like
what
what
incentive
does
all
right
so
like?
A
Let's
just
say
that
like
cdw
cdw,
is
a
really
big
reseller
of
like
vmware
red
hat,
basically
almost
all
like
tech
people
right?
So
why
don't
the
companies
just
cut
out
cdw
and
just
go
direct
to
like
vmware,
because
aren't
you
cutting
out
the
middleman
and
just
when
it
wouldn't
you
they?
They
must
know
that
like
they're
gonna,
they
have
to
get
a
cut
of
that
right.
So
isn't
it?
Is
it
cost
neutral
to
go
between
a
partner
and
the
original
direct
for
businesses.
B
One
of
the
benefits
is,
if
you're,
a
company
and
you're
buying,
say
vmware
through
cdw
you're
likely
buying
more
than
just
your
vmware
products.
So,
instead
of
having
to
have
relationships
with
700
vendors
to
facilitate
your
business,
you
can
have
a
relationship
with
cdw
one
person,
your
sales
rep
from
cdw,
instead
of
the
seven.
B
So
there's
that,
because
again
time
is
money
and
then
the
the
other
benefit
is
that
a
typical-
and
I
say
this-
you
know.
B
Sensitively,
a
typical
pricing
channel
structure
is
that
the
vendor
lists
msrp.
So
if
you
buy
directly
from
the
company
you're
going
to
pay
msrp,
there's
not
a
lot
of
negotiating
there
yeah
when
that
vendor
sells
to
channel
partners.
B
Typically,
the
channel
partner
is
given
a
discount,
so
say
it's
ten
percent,
I'm
just
going
to
use
round
numbers.
The
channel
partner
is
given
a
discount
of
10,
and
so
there's
10
between
what
they
pay
and
what
msrp
is.
B
I
don't
know
because
they
want
to
win
a
deal,
maybe
they're
competing
with
other
resellers,
and
so
the
channel
partner
has
a
little
leeway
and
doesn't
have
to
charge
as
much
oftentimes
customers
pay
a
little
bit
less
if
they
go
through
channel
partners
because
of
the
competition
within
the
channel.
B
A
Yeah,
I
think
that
it's
really
interesting.
Whoever
like
sets
up
this
system,
must
do
a
lot
of
like
complex
math,
because
I
remember
a
situation
that
would
happen
from
time
to
time
is
that
we
would
be
trying
to
sell
direct,
but
then
sometimes
it
would
end
up
like
almost
like
competing
with
the
channel
partner
and
then
so
it's
just
sort
of
like
you
have
to
create
some
sort
of
incentive
structure
where
it's
like,
and
so
that's
the
comp
plan
for
the
sales
rep.
A
That's
also
the
plan
that
you
have
with
the
channel
partner
itself,
but
as
long
as
you
like,
maintain
cost
neutrality,
then
who
cares
right?
The
customer
just
gets
to
choose
if
they
want
to
have
a
relationship
with
cdw
good
for
them.
If
they
want
to
have
a
relationship
with
you
know,
microsoft,
google,
then
that's
fine
too,
so
it's
just
given
the
choice
great.
A
I
know
that,
thanks
for
such
a
great
explanation
for
channel,
I
think
that
all
of
this
is
super
insightful
talk
to
me
more
about
the
operations
side,
so
I
know
that
we've
spent
most
of
the
time
on
talking
about
the
channel.
What
is
the
channel?
Why
does
the
channel
exist?
A
I
think
all
that's
helpful,
but
talk
to
me
about
operation
side
so
like
on
a
day
to
day,
like
walk
me
through
the
day-to-day
of
someone
in
sales
or
channel
operations,
seeing
how
you
told
me
that
they're
somewhat
similar
but
like
what
what
are
some
of
the
things
that
you're
thinking
about
what
are
you
doing?
What
are
you,
what
are
what
are
your
priorities?
B
Well,
regardless
of
what
the
activity
is,
I
personally
go
into
everything
thinking
about
efficiency,
because.
B
With
any
business
decision
or
business
relationship,
if
it's
not
efficient,
we're
going
to
have
some
problems
and
that's
really
where
operations
comes
in,
we
need
to,
like
you
know,
there's
nfr
keys,
not
for
resale
that
you
know
we
allow
our
partners.
There
needs
to
be
some
rules
and
structure
around
that.
B
Because
I've
never
worked
outside
of
the
channel,
I
don't
know
if
there's
an
equivalent
in
sales
ops,
but
you
know
a
day
in
the
life
is
you
know
I
come
in
now?
I
have
to
tell
you
I'm
on
day
30.,
so
this
might
change
in
another
two
weeks.
You
know
like
I'm,
I'm
brand
new
fresh
here
at
get
lab,
but
regardless
in
any
of
the
operational
roles,
I've
had
I
come
in
and
I
I
check
all
my
notifications,
whether
it's
salesforce
email,
you
know
my
issues
and
see.
B
Are
there
things
that
are
maybe
not
working
great,
that
I
need
to
go
in
and
fix.
So
operations
is
a
lot
of
problem
solving
it's
a
lot
of
puzzles.
It's
why
I
like
it.
I
try
to
how
can
I
get
from
point
a
to
b
in
the
most
efficient
way
and
make
sure
it
works,
so
it's
putting
all
those
pieces
together.
B
So
I
mean,
if
you
look
in
a
lot
of
the
accounts
in
salesforce
you'll
see
you
know
all
the
chatter
at
the
top
of
the
account
and
it's
like
hey
this
field.
Isn't
working
or
can
you
change
this
field
because
I
don't
have
the
right
permissions
or
this
one
didn't
sink
right
and
there's
a
whole
bunch
of
missing
information.
C
B
That's
a
day
in
the
life,
that's
a
lot
of
my
morning.
It's
just
those
one-off
questions
that
I
can
just
answer
fix,
get
out
of
the
way,
because
you
know
we're
working
with
humans
and
we're
working
with
computers
and
neither
of
those
things
work
100
of
the
time,
so
that
will
always
exist.
In
my
opinion,
those
things
will
never
go
away
and
then,
in
terms
of
projects
like
I
said
it's,
we
need
to
have
a
policy
around
who's.
B
Gonna
get
a
not
for
resale
license,
because
it's
not
for
resale
we're
allowing
someone
to
use
our
product
without
paying
for
it.
They
use
it
for
demos,
there's
a
lot
of
reasons
why
you'd
have
an
nfr
key,
but
we
need
to
make
sure
one.
It's
trackable,
two,
it's
not
being
taken
advantage
of
and
three
it's
easy
for
our
team
to
implement.
B
So
one
of
those
projects
is
building
that
and
then
upholding
that
the
other
another
big
one
is
deal
registration.
What
are
the.
B
It's
one
of
the
projects
that
my
boss
just
talked
to
me
about
yesterday.
B
So
it's
a
really
exciting
time
in
channel
and
in
channel
operations,
because
there's
a
lot
of
new
things
that
we
get
to
build
and
sales
ops
is
similar,
but
because
it's
sales,
it's
been
around
pretty
much
since
the
beginning
of
we
tried
to
start
selling
stuff,
it's
not
as
much
as
build
it's
it's
more
of
uphold
and
make
sure
it
keeps
going,
and
you
know
like
we
say,
we're
going
to
iterate
we're
going
to
make
it
better
we're
going
to
find
more
efficiencies
and
then
we're
going
to
iterate
again.
B
A
How
receptive
have
the
channel
partners
been
to
gitlab,
so
it's
like
we
met,
we
made
a.
We
made
a
bet
right
like
we're
going
to
invest
in
the
channel.
Hopefully
they
scale
out
our
sales
force.
Have
they
been
receptive
to
selling
their
stuff
or
like?
Is
it
still
we're
making
those
relationships
or
how's
that
planned
out.
B
Well,
to
answer
your
question:
both
we
are
still
in
the
process
of
making
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
those
relationships,
but
because
our
product
is
so
great,
they
want
to
sell
us
we're
getting
partners
coming
to
us
all
the
time
signing
up
in
our
partner
portal.
You
know
I
I
thought
it
was
really
interesting.
You
know
when
I
changed
jobs
on
my
linkedin,
I
got
off
oh.
B
B
That's
really
cool
so
yeah.
We
are
in
a
really
great
position
and
because
just
we
have
a
great
product,
we
have
a
great
company.
So
people
want
to
work
with
us.
It's
not
always
that
way,
and
let
me
tell
you
the
less
expensive
your
product
is
the
harder
it
is
to
get
traction
in
the
channel
because
everything's
based
on
margins,
if
you're,
making
a
10
margin
on
a
50
product,
that's
not
a
lot,
but
if
you're
making
a
10
margin
on
a
500
000
product,
that's
a
lot!
So
there's
a
lot
of
different
things.
B
So
we
actually
have
like
this.
This
great
structure
at
get
labs.
The
partners,
it's
our
product
is
hot
people
want
it,
and
so
partners
want
to
work
with
us,
which
is
really
exciting.
It
just
means
all
of
your
operations.
Teams
are
real
busy.
C
A
Thanks
for
explaining
that
all
right,
I
I
think
I
have
one
more
question
before
we
start
talking
a
little
bit
more
about
like
all
right,
I'm
someone
who's
new
in
sales.
You
know
like
what
sort
of
things
that
should
I
start
doing
to
prepare
myself
if
I
wanted
to
enter
in
the
channel
at
some
point
in
my
career,
but
last
question
that
I
have-
and
this
is
something
I've
always
kind
of
wondered
about-
is
how
comp
works.
A
So,
if
I'm
not
asking
for
salary
ranges,
people
can
look
that
up
on
like
pay
scale
or
whatever,
but
if
you're
doing
direct
sales,
you're,
probably
like
50
base
50
commission
depending
on
the
role
but
with
like
channel
for
a
channel
account
manager
like,
like
you,
talked
about
forecasting
earlier
and
how
you
have
to
like
call
these
channel
partners
to
for
them
to
forecast,
and
that's
like
an
even
more
advanced
exercise,
so
is
that,
like
are
general
account
managers?
Are
they
quota
carrying
or
like?
How
does?
A
B
Well,
I
should
start
by
saying
that
channel
operations
actually
falls
under
field
operations.
So
what
I
do
doesn't
like,
I
just
have
a
salary
channel
account
managers.
However
you're
you're
pretty
spot
on.
I
don't,
I
don't
know
specific
to
gitlab,
but
in
the
industry,
when
you're
a
channel
account
manager,
you
have
a
little
it's
not
typically
50
50..
You
have
a
little
bit
higher
of
a
base
and
sometimes
there's
a
commission
element
almost
always
there's
a
goal.
Bonus
element
first
thing
yeah.
B
So,
instead
of
like
you
know,
you
get
0.2
percent
on
all
your
sales
and
that's
just
how
much
you
make
it's
like.
Well,
you
know
your
goal
is
5
million
every
quarter
and
if
you
hit
75
percent
of
that,
you
get
75
of
your
stated
bonus.
If
you
hit
80
of
that,
you
get
80
of
your
standard
bonus
or,
however,
that
specific
comp
plan
works.
The
numbers
could
vary,
but
it's
very,
very
typical
to
have
the
majority
of
a
channel
account
person's
the
the
part
of
their
sorry.
B
I'm
like
stumbling
over
my
words,
the
part
of
their
pay.
That
is
movable.
You
know
like
not
their
base
salary,
but
the
majority
of
everything
else
is
usually
bonus
related,
sometimes
there's
commission
sometimes
there's
not.
I've
worked
under
both
where
I
made
a
base
salary.
I
made
a
commission
and
I
made
a
bonus
and
the
commission
was
always
the
smallest
part.
A
C
A
All
right,
yeah
thank
this
talk
was
super
enlightening
for
me.
I
appreciate
you
sharing
your
experience.
I
loved
hearing
your
story.
I
love
how
you
think
about
some
of
these
things.
It's
very
obvious
that
you
understand
the
business
really
well.
B
A
A
So
I
think
it's
really
cool
for
those
of
y'all
that
are
listening
to
this
podcast
right
now.
The
fact
of
the
matter
is
it's
like
it's
iterating
right,
so
sometimes
you
implement
something
new
and
it's
not
what
you
expect,
but
the
problem
is.
The
good
thing
is
either
a
will,
get
you
closer
to
where
you
want
to
go
rb.
A
You
now
learn
something
new
about
yourself
and
both
of
those
are
valuable
right,
so
kim
I'd
love
to
hear
your
thoughts
on
what
type
of
person
would
make
a
good
fit
for
channel
account
management
or
channel
operations.
So
it's
like
you
know,
so
it's
like
if
you're,
if
you're,
if
you're
like
a
hiring
manager-
and
you
know
all
these
people-
then
what
are
some
of
the
traits
that
you
look
for
so
not
just
the
skills
but
like
the
personality
traits
right.
A
So
I
imagine
for
channel
operations
like
really
good
attention
to
detail
ability
to
prioritize,
like
I'm
just
curious
as
to
like
what
type
of
people
like
you
know.
If
you
have
x,
y
and
z,
then
you
know,
maybe
you
should
consider
these
roles
and
it
might
be
a
great
fit
for
you
for
you.
B
Overall
I
mean
I
mean
most
of
us
these
days,
we'll
talk
about
how
we
just
don't
like
people,
but
outside
of
that,
like
you,
don't
go
into
work
any
day
and
sit
at
your
computer
and
just
sit
at
your
computer
and
do
your
work
you're
constantly
talking
to
people-
and
you
know
you
have
to
be
friendly.
You
have
to
be
likable.
C
B
And
you
have
to
have
a
thick
skin
and
be
able
to
say
no
and
those
things
don't
always
go
together,
a
lot
of
people
here
I
have
to
be
likable
and
then
they
think
I
need
to
do
everything
in
my
power
to
be
likable.
But
it's
not.
You
have
to
have
the
boundaries
that
go
with
it
because
there's
business
on
the
line
and
it's
important
to
know
some
things
are
bad
business.
I
don't
mean
like
dirty
business.
I
just
mean
that's,
not
a
good
deal.
You
know.
C
B
Or
if
you're
talking
to
a
channel
partner,
like
I
see
that
that's
your
focus,
that's
not
where
I'm
going.
My
company
is
doing
this.
Can
we
partner
up
around
here
like
so
and
you're?
Like
I
said
you're
talking
to
you,
know
vps,
presidents
and
ceos,
so
you
have
to
be
able
to
not
back
down
even
when
people
pull
rank,
which
doesn't
happen
often,
but
it
can
so
in
order
to
be
in
the
account
management
realm.
B
It
is
similar
to
sales,
but
it
can
get
a
bit
more
personal
because
you're
working
with
the
same
people
again
and
again
and
again
and
again.
C
B
And
you
know
for
operations,
whether
it's
sales
or
channel
or
anything
like
that
attention
to
detail
is
a
big
one.
Like
you
met,
like
you
mentioned,
having
an
analytical
brain
is
also
very
helpful
if
you
are
always
saying
why
or
if
you
look
at
something
and
go
that
could
be
better,
there
are
people
who
just
think
like
that,
like,
oh,
that
could
be
better.
If
we
did
this,
that's
a
really
great
trait
being
able
to
foresee
roadblocks.
B
That
was
one
of
the
biggest
changes
for
me.
When
I
switched
within
the
same
company
from
being
a
cam
to
being
in
channel
operations,
I
would
still
meet
with
my
cams
all
the
time
they
would
be
like.
I
want
to
develop
this
program,
for
I
don't
know
this
type
of
company
and
I'd
be
like
okay.
What
are
you
thinking
and
they'd
go
through?
You
know
an
outline
of
what
would
make
it
easy
to
sell,
and
then
I
would
reply
with
okay.
We
can
do
that.
B
Here
are
some
of
the
roadblocks
that
I
see
in
your
plan.
We
can
just
you
know,
change
it
a
little
bit
to
make
sure
those
roadblocks
don't
happen,
and
one
of
the
responses
I
got
was
oh
because
I
used
to
be
a
cam.
They
would
say.
Oh
that's
why
you're
in
this
role
now,
I
never
would
have
thought
about
that.
It's
just
one
of
the
ways
my
brain
works,
so
you
have
to
be
able
to
kind
of.
You
have
to
be
able
to
see
the
forest
and
not
just
the
trees.
C
C
B
C
B
So
that's
probably
one
of
the
biggest
differences.
I've
noticed
is
you
know
where
you're
focusing
on,
but
either
way
you're
working
with
people.
Anybody
in
sales
is
working
with
people,
so
you
you
can't
hate
people.
A
Is
there
as
much
pressure
for
making
quota
in
a
camera
as
there
is
in
a
sales
role?
So
I
remember
like
when
I
was
in
sales
like
towards
the
end
of
quarter.
We
would
have
like
all
of
these
meetings
every
single
day
and
you
get
called
into
people's
like
managers,
offices
and
stuff
like
that.
How's
this
deal
coming
along
blah
blah.
Give
me
the
update.
A
B
In
a
channel
sales
forecast
call
it's
the
exact
same
as
a
sales
forecast
call.
I
shouldn't
say
that
I'm
assuming
I've
never
done
non-channel
sales,
but
it's
like
what's
happening
with
this
deal.
Where
are
we
gonna
close
it?
Your
goal
is
one
million
dollars
you're
at
649
000.
Where
are
you
going
to
make
that
up?
Where
is
where
is
that
extra
money
going
to
come
from?
Can
you
find
any
other
deals?
Why
did
that
deal
push?
Why
did
that
deal?
Go
dead?
It's
still
very
very
on
the
line.
A
C
B
Yeah
I've
seen
both
happen.
Sometimes
a
channel
deal
takes
longer
to
close,
because
there's
more
people
involved.
C
B
Not
all
the
time
so
there
there
is
consideration
for
that.
But
that's
a
that's
a
very
small
thing
like
that's,
not
something
that
people
are
going
to
see.
Often.
A
Still,
sales:
okay,
thanks
for
shedding
light
on
the
fit.
How
would
you
recommend
that
someone
get
started?
So,
let's
just
say,
I'm
a
new
salesperson
here
at
in
my
role
at
month.
Six,
I'm
thinking
about
maybe
making
this
something
that
I
want
to
explore
in
my
career,
like
how
would
you
recommend,
like
you
know,
making
that
I
I
think
that
when
I've
spoken
to
so
this
is
call
number.
A
This
is
like
this
is
the
fourth
conversation
that
I've
had
right
and
I
think
that
one
of
the
things
that's
really
interesting
to
me
is
just
how
people
just
like
end
up
in
their
role
a
lot
of
the
time.
But,
like
you
know,
if
someone
wanted
to
be
intentional
about
it,
then
how
would
someone
prepare
and
position
themselves
to
either
get
in
channel
operations
or
a
camera.
B
Well,
I
mean
on
the
operation
side,
if
you
find
yourself
really
looking
at
the
how
and
not
just
the
what
and
trying
to
you
know,
figure
out
why
this
is
happening
and
and
making
it
better,
not
just
for
sales
for
the
sake
of
the
company,
but
you
know
for
the
sake
of
the
process
itself.
That's
a
that's
a
good
key!
B
That's
what
the
key
was
for
me
and
honestly,
you
know
reach
out
to
an
operations
person
that
you've
worked
with
or
an
operations
name,
that
you've
seen
in
an
account
in
salesforce,
whether
it's
channel
or
sales
and
network
yeah.
A
B
Like
read
what
they're
doing
see
what
the
questions
are
like?
If,
if
you
don't
want
to
just
like
reach
out
and
be
like
hey,
I
think
I'm
interested,
because
that
can
be
kind
of
overwhelming
at
times
as
as
much
of
a
people
person
as
you
are
it's
hard
to
do
that
so
look
to
see
where
your
role
intersects
with
that,
because,
if
you're
in
sales,
if
you're
a
new
sales
person,
your
role
is
100
intersecting
with
something
operations
did
because
they're
building
the
processes
that
you're
being
taught
to
follow
yeah.
B
So
you
know,
look
for
those
names
and
see
how
we're
lucky
here
at
gitlab
that
gitlab
is
so
interested
in
iteration.
So
look
look
at
the
iterations
that
you
can
see
in
the
opportunities.
Did
you
notice
that
something
changed?
Why
who
changed
it
like
and
and
kind
of
start
to
look
at
that
and,
if
you're
interested
talk
to
the
people
whose
names
you're
seeing
in
these
changes?
B
B
So
you
know
reach
out
to
anybody.
You
know
in
the
channel
organization,
like
I
said,
I'm
fairly
new
to
gitlab
and
I'm
just
meeting
all
of
these
people
they're
all
wonderful
gitlab
did
a
really
great
job
hiring
from
the
top
down
when
they
were
like
hey
we're,
gonna
go
channel
and
it's
it's
been
really
refreshing
and
exciting.
B
For
me
to
be
a
part
of
that,
even
though,
like
I'm
a
little,
you
know
I'm
in
field
ops,
but
I
work
mainly
with
the
channel
team
reach
out
reach
out
to
you
know
some
of
the
people
that
are
in
sales
reach
out
to
some
of
the
channel
managers
and
ask
some
questions.
B
It's
an
exciting
time
to
be
in
the
channel
business
specifically
here,
so
my
guess
is
that
they're
probably
going
to
be
like
yeah.
Let
me
tell
you
this
or
why?
Don't
you
jump
on
this
call
when
I
used
to
train
people
that
were
interested
in
channel
sales?
The
first
thing
I
would
do
is
pull
them
on
a
call
with
me
just
be
like
hi,
I'm
introducing
this
person.
They're
just
gonna
sit
here
and
listen
because
it's
a
different
type
of
conversation.
C
B
So
that's
you
know,
that's
my
my
biggest
recommendation
for
people
that
are
like.
Oh,
this
is
interesting.
Yeah.