A masterclass in founder conviction | Eilon Reshef (Co-founder and CPO at Gong)
Eilon Reshef is the co-founder and CPO at Gong, an AI-powered platform that tracks, records, and analyzes sales calls to drive revenue growth. In 2021, Gong raised $250M at a $7.25B valuation. Gong was one of the fastest SaaS companies to hit $100m ARR, and now has over 4000 customers. Before Gong, Eilon sold his previous e-commerce startup, Webcollage.
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Show Notes
Eilon Reshef is the co-founder and CPO at Gong, an AI-powered platform that tracks, records, and analyzes sales calls to drive revenue growth. In 2021, Gong raised $250M at a $7.25B valuation. Gong was one of the fastest SaaS companies to hit $100m ARR, and now has over 4000 customers. Before Gong, Eilon sold his previous e-commerce startup, Webcollage.
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In today’s episode, we discuss:
- Why Eilon was so bullish on recording sales calls
- How Gong knew they had product market fit
- The importance of design partners
- Expanding into multi-product offerings
- Lessons from riding the AI wave since 2015
- The future of AI in B2B sales efficiency
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Referenced:
- Act-On Software: https://act-on.com/
- Amit Bendov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbendov/
- BlueJeans: https://www.bluejeans.com/
- Crossing the Chasm: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Geoffrey-Moore/dp/0062292986
- Gong: https://www.gong.io/
- Mistral: https://mistral.ai/
- OpenAI: https://openai.com/
- Salesforce: https://salesforce.com/
- Webcollage: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/webcollage
- Webex: https://www.webex.com/
- Zoom: https://zoom.us/
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Where to find Eilon Reshef:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eilonreshef/
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Where to find Todd Jackson:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddj0/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/tjack
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Where to find First Round Capital:
- Website: https://firstround.com/
- First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/firstround
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
- This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:32) Eilon’s unwavering conviction in Gong
(09:34) Initial reactions to Gong’s demo
(13:48) Keeping the beta lean
(15:33) Gong’s monetization strategy
(16:38) Early signs of product market fit
(18:14) The importance of design partners to Gong’s growth
(21:52) Why VCs were afraid to invest
(23:43) Reaching 100 customers
(26:10) Eilon’s unique product roadmap framework
(28:22) Going from $2M to $9M ARR in one year
(29:02) The journey to multi-product
(30:52) How Gong measures success
(34:07) Lessons from building AI products for sales
(37:45) Predicting the future of B2B sales
(38:48) The concept of “raving fans”
(39:31) Why it’s “easier” for second-time founders
(42:00) Eilon’s favorite books
(42:45) Gong in 2024