Pascal Unger
Bio
Co-founder / Managing Partner at focal.vc We lead pre-seeds in North America with up to $1M: We exclusively back AI native software startups at the very start. Thereafter, we help them get off the ground better and faster, supported by a network > 200 GTM executives. That's our singular, unwavering focus.Appears in 14 Episodes
The Science of First Call Exceptionalism | Why SDRs Matter More Than Ever| How Champion Empowerment Determines Close Rates | The Rule of Threes That Closes Enterprise Deals | Greg Costigan, Sales Leader at Box, Zuora & Zenefits
You have to be so much better than the incumbent if you want to have even the slightest change.This episode is a tactical masterclass on early-stage B2B sales. You’ll ...
Why Going Up Market Too Early Kills Startups | Why New Categories Cannot Do Traditional Sales | Why "Sell to Pain" is Terrible Advice for New Categories | The Hidden Truth About Box, Asana & HubSpot's Growth | Matt Harmon, GTM Advisor & Former Box/Asana
Moving upmarket, the right wayWhen should a startup go from SMB to enterprise - and when should you not?I break this down with a former revenue leader at Box, SurveyMo...
Building Without VCs Until $10M ARR | Why Most Popular Startup Advice is Dead Wrong | Why Titles Will Kill Your Startup | The $20M Series A That Changed Everything | How to Survive Burning $2M/Month When Markets Crash | Duncan Weatherston, CEO of Smile Di
Bootstrapping to $10M ARR was easier than raising the first $20M.This episode is a masterclass in founder decision-making: choosing (and parting with) co-founders, boo...
Why Demand ≠ Product Market Fit | How to Kill Your Golden Goose Before It Kills You | Why Pessimistic Founders Win | The $100M Pivot That Defined Arc's Future | Basile Senesi, Chief Revenue Officer at Arc
When every YC batchmate wanted their product and investors threw money at them, Arc made the unthinkable decision - abandon the business. Learn the framework for ident...
Why I Turned Down Apollo to Build a $100M+ Fintech | How 200 Rejections Led to 10 LOIs in 8 Weeks | Why Non-Dilutive Capital Is the Future | The 3-Point Checklist Before Quitting Your Dream Job | Don Muir, Founder & CEO of ARC
Don Muir turned down his dream job at Apollo to build the AI-powered bank Arc.This episode goes through the exact playbook the former BCG consultant and private equity...
The Triangle of Talent: Why Too Few Founders Hire Superstars | How Anti-Selling Filters Out 90% of Candidates | The Citadel Interview Method for Detecting Excellence | Why Work-Life Balance Kills Startups | Anis Bennaceur, Co-founder & CEO of Attention
In this episode, we dive deep into startup sales hiring with Anis Bennaceur, a masterful talent scout who's cracked the code on building exceptional early-stage teams....
The Sales Productivity Formula: Time × Conversion Rate × Average Deal Size | Why $10-36K ACV Is The Zone Of Death | Sales Reps Are Humans, Not Spreadsheets | Russ Thau, Former Revenue Leader at Intercom, Envoy, Box
Most founders get sales rep productivity wrong - and it kills their growth.If you’re thinking about hiring your first sellers - or wondering why the ones you hired are...
Why What Got You to $1M Will Kill You at $10M | Why Enterprise Bets at $20M Win | Why Hiring Big Company Leaders Too Early Is Fatal | The 3 Types of People Every Startup Needs | Russ Thau, Former Revenue Leader at Intercom, Envoy, Box
What got you here won't get you there - the brutal truth about scaling from $1M to $50M in revenue.If you keep doing what you were doing to get to $1M ARR, you won’t g...
Why Most Founders Wait Too Long to do Partnerships | How to Avoid the 20% Partner Dependency Trap | The Hidden Costs of Partnerships | Inside the Acquisition by Dialpad with Natasha Ratanshi-Stein, Founder and CEO Surfboard
How to nail partnerships from Day 1Get insights into the counterintuitive playbook that defies conventional wisdom about when startups should pursue partnerships with ...
How Not To Die During The $1M to $10M Journey | Why Specialization Beats Founder Magic | Why Hiring Carbon Copies of Yourself Cannot Work | Why Pipeline Generation Solves Everything | Guillaume Jacquet, CEO & Co-Founder, Vasco
Most startups die between $1M-$10M ARR because they try to reinvent the wheel.A lot is written about the $0 to $1M ARR journey. A lot less about the $1M to $10M journe...
The Design Partner Playbook for AI Products | Why Skeptics Make the Best Early Users | Why You Should Fire Your First Customers | How Charging Too Early Kills Startups | Alexa Grabell, Co-founder & CEO of Pocus
From cold LinkedIn DMs to nailing customer discovery and design partnerships to eventually raising $23M from Tier 1 venture firms.Learn why most startups do customer d...
Why Betting on an Idea Space Beats a Single Idea | Why 5,000 Signups Mean Nothing Without Retention | How to Know When to Pivot vs Persist | How to Survive 14 Months of Failure | Why Instincts Beat Market Research | Han Wang, Co-founder & CEO of Mintlify
Mastering the pivot playbook after 14 months of chewing on glass.Han Wang, Co-Founder and CEO of Mintlify, knows pivoting better than pretty much anyone. Mintlify pivo...
Why Revenue Is the Only Signal That Matters | 100 Calls for 3 Design Partners | Why Asking for Advice Is a Trap | How to Build a Predictable Sales Machine from Nothing | Santiago Suarez Ordoñez, CEO & Co-founder of Momentum
Most founders waste months validating ideas with pats on the back instead of credit cards.Our guest, Santiago Suárez Ordóñez reveals how he went from zero sales experi...
The Growth Playbook from Ramp and Unify GTM: How to Run 100+ Experiments per Quarter | Why Velocity Beats Perfection | De-scoping for Faster Learning | Building Unify GTM to Transform Outbound with Austin Hughes
Austin Hughes is the co-founder and CEO of Unify GTM, a platform powering warm outbound for growth, marketing and sales teams. Previously, Austin was an early growth l...