Michael Orr

From ServiceNow to Snowflake, the iconic CEO Frank Slootman turns companies into B2B giants. His secret: bringing ‘Founder Mode’ passion to professional management. In the latest episode of B2BaCEO, Frank breaks down why the Founder vs. Manager mode debate misses the point. Leadership lesson #1 from Slootman 👇 Rank-and-file employees don’t just watch a leader’s moves on Day 1. They watch every day—and compare notes. The leader’s character and credibility gets established with every decision (or hesitation). Slootman’s advice: move quickly, be decisive, engage employees on the real issues, not the fluff. Our full conversation in the comments.

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Great Place To Work® and Fortune magazine have honored Five9 as one of this year's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area. 🌟 This is Five9's second time being named to this prestigious list, coming in at No. 17. Earning a spot means that Five9 has surpassed rigorous benchmarks, establishing itself as one of the best workplaces among companies headquartered in the San Francisco Bay region. Learn more: #Five9 #BestPlacesToWork #CustomerExperience

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At Black Box Intelligence™, we've been closely monitoring California since the minimum wage increase in April, and the findings may surprise you! Explore the trends in sales, traffic, check growth, and staffing, particularly in comparison to the rest of the nation. https://lnkd.in/gkf2mVUf

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(NEW EPISODE) In the ever-evolving landscape of tech startups, few stories are as compelling as Rick Nucci's journey from founding Boomi to launching Guru. A serial entrepreneur with a track record of success, Rick’s career is a masterclass in leveraging market opportunities and navigating the complexities of scaling a business. In a recent interview, Rick shared the intricacies of his entrepreneurial path, offering valuable insights into his experiences, challenges, and the future of technology. He talks about selling Boomi to Dell for $4B, building Guru, and raising funding for it. #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur #business #success #venture #venturecapital #investment #invest #investors #tech #technology #innovation #leanstartup #leanstartups #inspiration #startup #startups https://lnkd.in/eFKdHktS

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We all know that AI is changing the way we work at breakneck pace. Some say faster than any previous technology. So it's hard to get a sense of where your organization is and how quickly others might be moving. 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘅 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰. Our team at ServiceNow spent the last year building this study out with our partners at Oxford Economics. We surveyed roughly 4500 global business leaders to get a snapshot of where we are with the state of AI in the enterprise. We gauged readiness on a new, proprietary scale and here are the three key takeaways: 𝟭. 𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱. On a 100-point scale, the average score was 44. It's early innings folks. 𝟮. 𝗔 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸. Why? How? 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼 𝗯𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Not as easy as it sounds. More insights on how AI is fueling transformation across the Fortune 500 and beyond, here. https://lnkd.in/gGGyEcXy

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Frequent feedback is essential for building alignment and setting clear priorities in product strategy. Regular alignment sessions help teams stay adaptable, prioritize effectively, and build products that truly meet customer needs. This week, I spoke with Vishal Kapoor, SVP of Product at Affirm, about what it takes to scale products in the fast-evolving fintech space. With over 15 years of experience, including roles at Microsoft and Dropbox, Vishal offers invaluable insights into creating adaptable, customer-centered products. We discussed:  ✅ How weekly feedback aligns teams and aids decision-making ✅ Identifying and sequencing the right problems ✅ Balancing long-term goals with immediate needs ✅ Building cross-functional partnerships for better feedback ✅ Using feedback loops to keep the roadmap agile Listen now 🎙️ Apple: https://lnkd.in/ehWgbh8p 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e7J6VyVf How does your team prioritize feedback in the product development process? Share your thoughts below! #productthinking #productmanagement #feedbackloops #teamalignment #productstrategy

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About twenty years ago, I was a doctoral candidate at Caltech during an “AI winter,” struggling with basic feature engineering. Today at Salesforce, we're developing autonomous systems that can understand, act, and continuously learn—a fundamental shift from where we began. Our vision extends beyond large language models to Large Action Models—AI systems that don't just process language, but take meaningful actions and improve through environmental feedback. These agents have the ability to make day-to-day business decisions for us, and over time will surely help the human-at-the-helm inform the very trajectory of business as we know it.  I recently discussed this evolution with my favorite futurist @Peter Schwartz at Dreamforce, exploring how we got here and where we're headed. From the early days of neural networks to today's transformer architecture, the acceleration of innovation never ceases to amaze me. What once took decades now happens in months. What takes months today will take days in the future.  Read our conversation on the future of autonomous AI and its implications for enterprise transformation here: https://sforce.co/40bwcX3. And thanks for your great facilitation, @Itai Asseo! #AIResearch #HistoryofAI #FutureofAI

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We are thrilled to announce that Salesforce was recognized as one of America's Climate Leaders 2024 by USA TODAY! This prestigious acknowledgment highlights our unwavering commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility. At Salesforce, we lead boldly to address the climate emergency, bringing the full power of Salesforce to accelerate the world's journey to net zero. Because we know that the wellbeing of our planet and our most vulnerable communities rests on a healthy climate. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, partners, and customers in championing a greener future. Read more about the rankings and the companies making a difference here: https://lnkd.in/dsiMQD2g #Sustainability #ClimateAction #Salesforce #ClimateLeaders2024 #EnvironmentalResponsibility

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Great Place To Work® and Fortune magazine have honored Five9 as one of this year's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area. 🌟 This is Five9's second time being named to this prestigious list, coming in at No. 17. Earning a spot means that Five9 has surpassed rigorous benchmarks, establishing itself as one of the best workplaces among companies headquartered in the San Francisco Bay region. Learn more: #Five9 #BestPlacesToWork #CustomerExperience

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Want to learn more about how Trifecta Technologies and TradeCentric partnered to bring the benefits of PunchOut to a Salesforce headless commerce setup? Check out the article now. 🔗 https://buff.ly/40wj0vO

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AI-native companies need to embrace new pricing paradigms (price based on work done, on outcome vs hours, etc). Inevitably, new pricing models are accompanied by new workflows, new ways of invoicing, and new challenges around billing. This makes Sequence's modern billing platform particularly relevant: Sequence helps finance and commercial teams automate manual billing and stop revenue leakage. Sequence has just launched their CPQ Product for B2B software businesses with hybrid pricing, designed specifically for AI, B2B SaaS and Fintech startups. This release empowers B2B teams to create flexible pricing proposals or contracts, including teams selling custom deals with usage tiers, minimum commitments, or ramped pricing, Sequence CPQ works for any pricing model or deal term. As a customer says: "Sequence is like a notion page supercharged with pricing tools." Excited for Sequence to build the critical infrastructure needed to enable new, flexible paradigms that are critical for the AI revolution.

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Great article by Craig Revord on how middle managers can navigate tough issues like RTO mandates.

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A critical first step in understanding operational maturity is to unravel the reporting structure, according to RevOps expert Camela Thompson. Dive deeper into the most important issues in revenue operations in these insightful reports based on our most recent State of RevOps Survey. https://gag.gl/C7sIyA #RevOps #data

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Do you subscribe to the Balanced Boss newsletter? It's worth checking out, and not only for the possibility of finding nuggets of wisdom from me, as you will in the new issue 😉 Each issue has great, actionable tips for maintaining your health and staying grounded while running your empire. Read on to find out what long-distance cycling taught me about being a leader!

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Our latest Formstack for Salesforce release is rooted in Salesforce’s CoInnovation fund, where a little less than a year ago Monique Hui, Jon Schultz & Brandon Stauber, MPP brought the opportunity for Formstack to accelerate innovation with our Salesforce products. Fast forward a year -- many interviews with partners and customers on how to take Formstack for Salesforce to the next level later -- and our product releases are here with a double-down on our native-to-Salesforce strategy, focussed on delivered the best time-to-value for customers and partners around digital forms, document automation & digital signature for Salesforce. On Thursday we’ll be walking partners through these latest releases -- plus some bonus extras we've added coming out of Dreamforce last week.  Register in comments, and join us to get the rundown on: ** Formstack Documents for Salesforce release - new mappings UI ** Forms for Salesforce  - beta of new form builder, and new 100% native only packaging for all plans for top available security & compliance for all customers ** A hot off the press Agentforce + Formstack Demo including guided data capture & automated document & signature routing  ** Joint project & pipeline development program with partners, pointed at prospects and our large customer base I’ll share the full story on how this release stemmed from the CoInnovation Fund - with some twists and turns along the way. Hint: listening to customers & partners is at the core of the story.  See you there.  Link in comments to register.

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P2P (peer-to-peer) conversations need to be looked at as a necessity for your brands customer journey. If you are already sending A2P (automated flows) messages to your marketing lists, this is a solid start... but still only able to reach 1/10 of overall shoppers that abandoned your site. With LiveRecover you are not only able to open up a new sales channel for all P2P customers you can't currently capture in automated flows, but also - able to transform the customer experience so shoppers are actually able to speak with a real human to get their needs addressed in real time. Learn from Jonathan Ruley on why Ai, bots, etc. will never be able to replace a real human interaction! #P2Punlock #AcquireMoreCustomers #TransformCustomerEngagement

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This or That Tuesday: #Enablement - Execution or Expertise? In the last few months, I've consulted for enterprise companies in transformation who've all asked the same things. 1️⃣ How do I evolve my enablement function? 2️⃣ How would you structure the organization? 3️⃣ What tools do we need? I always ask "Do you want your team to be delivery engines (like mail carriers), or do you want them to be experts in GTM roles who can orchestrate traffic (flight control)?" Neither is wrong, but understanding how the organization operates right now and setting clear expectations of the desired state as well as the appetite for change management is required to be able to design the path to answer the questions above. Use the following reactions to vote: I want my enablement team to ❤️ Execute all enablement requests as quickly as possible 👏 Be experts in the roles they are serving to protect seller time 💡 Have you thought about ... Ground rules - same as always: There's no right or wrong answer. If "it depends", what is most relevant to you right now? As an IC or a leader? Buyer or Seller? SMB, MM, ENT? Let's talk about the nuances. I'll share my 2¢ in a few days with some tips & recommendations. #Leadership #SalesLeaders #RevenueEnablement #HangWithHang 🤙🙌🤙

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While Agentforce Service Agent is transforming end customer service automation, what about customer contacts/cases that require the human touch? Check out this session on how we are applying Agentforce to human agent assisted service to make service more efficient and more effective, and pave the way to trusted automation.

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