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How to nail Enterprise Sales
Plus: The founders agreement
Melanie Gabriel & Christian Woese
March 25, 2025 • Read time: 9 minutes
Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber’s T-shirt - mocking Mark Zuckerberg’s wardrobe - sold out after a recent event appearance. While Zuckerberg’s billions will offer him some comfort on the public shaming, didn’t he invite for this mockery when wearing a shirt with “Zuck aut nihil” last year, leaning on Julius Caesar’s phrase “Either Caesar or nothing”? Perhaps tech founders, billionaires, and emperors share a common God complex. As Barack Obama wisely said: “We all do serious jobs, yet we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously”. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.
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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
Alphabet to acquire Wiz for $32bn
In its largest-ever deal, Alphabet is acquiring cloud security startup Wiz for $32bn. Wiz, with $700 million in annual revenue, will stay independent and support multiple cloud providers. The acquisition boosts Google Cloud’s security as it competes with AWS and Azure. Talks initially stalled in 2024 over antitrust concerns, now regulatory approval is expected by 2026.
Rippling sues Deel in espionage case
HR company Rippling is suing its competitor Deel for espionage and trade secret theft, alleging a former employee spied for Deel. While slack logs provide key evidence, Deel denies wrongdoing, calling this a distraction. The rivalry is starting to escalate, with past marketing clashes and dramatic scenes, including the accused employee allegedly attempting to destroy evidence by flushing a phone down a toilet.
What do you meme?
Food for thought
Underfunded, yet outperforming?
VCs talk about finding inefficiencies, yet they overlook the most obvious one: underfunded women-led startups delivering 2.5x returns. This isn’t just about equality and fairness of chances - it’s about missed alpha. Place your bets wisely…
Female teams receive significantly less funding than men
What most founders wish they had discussed earlier
Too many founders dive into execution without first aligning on their "why." The Founders Agreement by Talent Kick sparks early conversations on motivations, values, and goals—helping teams stay resilient when challenges arise. Think of it as your startup’s compass, not a contract. Learn more in Swisspreneur’s Masterclass, where Melanie shares her founder journey and key lessons. (And if you’ve already started, it’s never too late for these conversations.)
What makes a great VP?
Distinction between execution and ownership of results is key when setting expectations of Directors and VPs. Too many VPs still think like Directors, hiding behind approval rather than owning the plan’s success or failure. Kellblog shared this spot-on article breaking down what it truly means to operate at the VP level. Can you relate with someone from your team - or even yourself?
Mark your calendar
Belgium
France
World Impact Summit in Bordeaux, 26-28 March [Program]
UK
Tech.EU Summit in London, 25-26 March [Program]
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Smart hack
Enterprise Sales is a beast on its own. Tough on everyone and beloved only by a few. Gal Aga broke down the essentials in this valuable post - the key take away’s:
AEs don’t close the deals - they rally the troops
Complex Sales = World class project management
AEs master buying, not selling
There is no Sales process, only a buying process
AEs think transformation, not pain points
One good read
Join the entrepreneurial journey
Are you ready to take your first steps into the startup ecosystem or seeking an exciting new opportunity? Below is a curated list of startup job openings across Europe for you to explore.
💡💡 Show your future employee that you go the extra mile and let them know directly why you will be the perfect fit! We have added a link to the Hiring Manager’s LinkedIn where we think this helps. Do things differently - message them! 💡💡
Internships
Business Intern [📍Zurich/Remote], Gen Z, Zeam [Apply]
AI Engineer Intern [📍Zurich], HR Tech, Moodtalk [Apply, Hiring manager]
Founder’s Associate[📍Remote (or in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Zurich, St.Gallen)], Logistics & Real Estate, SaveSpace [Apply, Hiring manager]
Founder’s Associate [📍Berlin], Construction, doinstruct [Apply]
Marketing Intern [📍Germany, Remote], AI, dataiku [Apply]
Customer Success
Customer Success Manager [📍Paris], Retail, autone [Apply]
Senior Customer Experience Manager [📍London], SaaS, Ledgy [Apply]
HR & Finance
Marketing & Comms
Head of (Growth) Marketing [📍Munich], Robotics, RobCo [Apply]
Product Marketing Manager [📍London], MarTech, Adverity [Apply]
Senior Growth Marketing Manager [📍Berlin], Mental Health Tech, nilo health [Apply]
Sales
SDR [📍Stockholm], Cybersecurity, detectify [Apply]
Business Development Manager, Nordics & Baltics [📍Norway], AI, Shield AI [Apply]
Strategy & Ops
VP Operations & Strategy [📍London], Health Tech, 32Co [Apply]
Business Analyst[📍Gent], Transportation, Qargo [Apply]
Product & Tech
Senior Growth Product Manager [📍Germany], Health Tech, Oviva [Apply, Hiring manager]
Technical co-founder [📍Berlin (or New York)], Agentic AI, Along [Apply, Hiring manager]
Final words — take what you need
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Follow the Gradient is a weekly newsletter and podcast by the serial founders Melanie Gabriel & Christian Woese about how to build a business in Europe while staying sane.
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