Mike Groeneveld

Mike GroeneveldAug 26, 2026

This was the coolest for me: I got to interview a 7-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer at Northstar by Everstage last week. Walt "Clyde" Frazier Jr. Still not sure how I pulled that off, but I'll take it. It was a total clinic on running a team. A few things Clyde said that I'm still chewing on: On winning: “How can you be full, but stay hungry?”. The Knicks went 53 years without a championship that drove a hunger unlike anything we’ve seen. Now that they’ve won, will they stay hungry? (The obvious answer is yes with a leader like Brunson… imo) On his teammates: you can't say his name without the other four. Camaraderie became contagious, and it showed up on the court. On AI: "AI can't network." Business gets done between people who know each other, and no model changes that. And the line I keep repeating, which he borrowed from Tyson: everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. So your plan needs a plan B. For a room full of revenue leaders trying to figure out AI, a guy who last played 45 years ago had more to say about people and trust than most keynotes I've sat through. Thank you to Clyde for being so generous with his stories, and to Everstage for putting me in that chair. One of the more memorable hours of my career. And of course, extremely grateful to everyone who showed up: you made the room!

Mike GroeneveldAug 27, 2026

Three things I took away from a rep celebrating a massive milestone, hitting his annual quota in August, six months early. I love seeing sellers win. It is incredible to see hard work translate into life-changing milestones. But as I read the post and scrolled through the hundreds of comments, three things stood out to me: 1. Last year, that same rep only hit 40% of quota: He didn't just smash his number out of nowhere. Twelve months ago, he was missing his target by more than half. The exact same person with the exact same brain was staring at a broken pipeline not too long ago. 2. Sales remains the greatest foundational skill in business: The rep mentioned it in his closing lines, and I will stand by this until the day I retire: learning how to sell teaches you resilience, grit, communication, and emotional regulation. It is a skillset that carries you through any venture, any market cycle, and any career transition. 3. The comment section was filled with quiet heartbreak: Out of roughly a hundred replies, at least seventy were from reps saying things like: "I wish I could post something like this." "I’m barely at 30% and panic every Monday." "I don’t think I’m cut out for this." If you are on the struggling side of the screen right now, take a deep breath. After leading sales teams for nearly two decades, here is the truth about this profession: A brutal year does not define your capability. Sales is not linear. You can do the exact right activities, run the cleanest discovery calls, and execute every step by the book, and an unforeseen budget freeze or macroeconomic shift can still stall your deals. What happened last quarter is not an indictment of your talent. Not every week, month, or year will be yours. And the most dangerous thing in sales is this: Comparison is the fastest way to break your psychology. When you start measuring your behind-the-scenes reality against everyone else’s highlight reel, you lose focus. You start feeling isolated, wondering, "What is wrong with me?" Nothing is wrong with you. You are not in this alone. If you are putting in the work, refining your craft, and learning from your losses, your turn will come. The pipeline will thaw. The groundwork you are laying today during the hard quarters is the exact fuel that creates your breakout year down the road. Control what you can control. Protect your mental health. Stay in the game.

Mike GroeneveldAug 28, 2026

For a growth-stage company, your first AE hire should not be your sales strategy. I came across this incident recently where a founder closed their first dozen deals on pure passion, deep industry relationships, and sheer force of will. They then raised a Series A, hired their first AE, handed him a laptop, and expected the revenue to scale magically. Now, six months later, the AE is completely missing the quota, and the founder himself complained that it's impossible in today's world to find good sales talent. I totally disagree with this. The problem is with your foundation itself. When you actually look at what happened, it is not a talent problem but your own undiagnosed operational chaos: - There was no clear ICP. - There was no repeatable discovery process. - There was no documented stage progression. There was just founder-led sales running on adrenaline. Growth-stage companies desperately want experienced sellers to come in and fix their revenue engine. But they haven't done the heavy lifting to actually make the role winnable. An AE is there to execute and scale a playbook. They are not there to invent your entire GTM strategy from scratch while carrying a massive quota. If your early sales hires keep failing, you as a founder need to stop blaming the talent pool. You have to build the foundation before you can expect someone to sell the house.