Sam Jacobs

Founder & CEO

I build elite, modern GTM operators - CROs, CMOs, CCOs, and Revenue Operations leaders - who drive growth at the world’s fastest-growing B2B companies, including Salesforce, Hubspot, Stripe, Oracle, Snowflake, Clay, Klaviyo, Xero, Upside, Owner.com, Otter.ai, and Square

That’s the mission behind Pavilion, the leading global community of over 10,000 high-performance go-to-market executives. We exist to help ambitious professionals unlock and realize their full potential—not just as employees, but as leaders, thinkers, and builders.  

Pavilion is a paid membership for GTM leaders at every level. We provide tactical support, advanced education - incorporating financial literacy, advanced AI-powered GTM motions, and modern leadership tools - career acceleration, and a powerful peer network to help Members perform better in their roles and grow into the next. We operate in every major global hub and represent a new way of thinking about career development—community-powered, principle-led, and relentlessly practical.

This all started with a belief: that greatness exists within all of us. Sometimes it just needs the right mechanism to bring it forth.

To learn more, visit: www.joinpavilion.com

I also co-host the Topline Podcast with AJ Bruno and Asad Zaman.

And I wrote a bestselling book, Kind Folks Finish First, about building with kindness at the center.

Host, Sales Hacker Podcast

Host of The Sales Hacker Podcast featuring interviews and discussion with leading sales practitioners from high growth companies around the world.  

Learn more here: https://www.saleshacker.com/podcast-announcement/

I thought AI SDRs were a gimmick.  I no longer think that.  I do think that if you have a team of poorly trained people sending thousands of crappy emails, having a bot replace them won't do very much.

But, I can also recognize that an agent sending thousands of emails is cheaper than a team of humans sending thousands of emails.

And I also appreciate instant follow-up.

We've long discussed the exponential half-life of lead value as response time increases.  

Following up within 1 minute is 10x more valuable than an hour which is 10x more valuable than a day.

So there is definitely a place for AI SDRs.

But I think benchmarks and standards are important.  

That's why I partnered with Otter.ai to put together a new guide for B2B sales leaders on how to unlock the potential of AI SDRs.

What you’ll learn:

- Benchmarks that matter: See how AI SDRs outperform traditional reps with 10x outreach, 3x faster replies, and 50% lower cost per meeting.

- Key advantages: AI SDRs persistently follow up and boost meeting conversion rates from 15% to over 25%.

- Common pitfalls: Learn what to watch out for from over-automation to data accuracy and how to balance AI efficiency with human insight.

- Measurement framework: Know which KPIs every sales leader should track, including qualified meetings, cost per meeting, response time, and lead quality.

- Ethical and operational best practices: Maintain transparency, protect data, and know when to hand the conversation back to your rep.

AI SDRs are booking twice as many qualified meetings at half the cost. 

This guide shows you how to get there faster: https://lnkd.in/ezn6i-Vy

Data in the table below provided by Otter.

#sponsored

CEO @ Pavilion | Co-Host of Topline Podcast | WSJ Best Selling Author of "Kind Folks Finish First"

There's a pipeline crisis happening right now in B2B tech. Which means there's a growth crisis.  

And while this website is full of a lot of very talented people who can get a lot of likes and engagement on social media posts, 

Communities are where the real operators are spending time.

Real operators don't have endless hours building their brand on social media.  They're too busy running their teams to try and master the ever changing algorithm.  

But they do have time to talk to each other, share ideas and best practices, and try and find strategies that unlock growth.

This was one of my favorite such conversations this past week in Pavilion.  

And the best part was 15 different CROs, GTM operators, and true practitioners leaning in to share real stories from the front lines.  

The way we're going to navigate our new persistent state of uncertainty is through a community of diverse vetted expert opinions in constant dialogue.  

There is no single framework that will save you.

Nor one single thought leader (including me).

It's going to be about you and your engagement with a group of fellow practitioners.  

We've built the very best GTM community in tech over the past 10 years and I'd be honored if you joined us and contributed to the conversation.  

Click here: https://lnkd.in/gtYxeg7J

We're heading for a crash.  Unit economics was the unlock that drove 20 years of software growth.  Once people understood the basic math, we could confidently invest in GROWTH.  But when a new generation of AI founders don't understand that math, everything breaks.

BACKGROUND

Unit economics describe the relationship between:

- How you much you spend to get a customer
- How much they pay you back
- What it costs you to service them
- How long they stick around

The basic assumptions are:

- It's expensive to change someone's mind (CAC)
- Once they change it, they stick around for awhile (Retention, GRR)
- It costs little to service them (Gross Margin, Cost of Service)

So ... 

- Even if it's expensive to acquire a customer
- Because they stay for a long time and it's cheap to keep them
- You can spend more than you make today knowing they'll be around for a long time and pay you back

THE AI HYSTERIA BREAKS THE MATH

Fast forward to today.

- Is it still expensive to acquire a customer?  YES and it's getting more expensive all the time

- Is it still cheap to service them? NO most AI companies have manufacturing-like gross margins. Replit has negative gross margins.  Meaning they lose money every time they make a sale.  So AI companies don't look like traditional software.

- Do they stick around a long time? Probably NOT.  If you can grow that quickly on Experimental Revenue you have no idea if those people are going to stay.  And you need them to stay MUCH longer because your margins are so terrible. 

The entire equation is broken.

Once the equation breaks, you eventually hit a wall, run out of money, and shut down your company.

As long as investors will underwrite bad math, you're safe.

The minute the winds change direction, you're screwed.

So what do you?

Don't listen to me, I'm just over here trying to teach people to how to build long term businesses.  I'm probably doing it wrong :)

But if you do want to survive the chaos, DM me and we can talk about the little community I'm building to empower GTM operators of the future to flourish in a new world of persistent uncertainty.

Eventbase

Account Manager

SOAR Sales and Marketing

Principal

45Drives

As Head of Sales at 45Drives, the world's leading provider of open-source storage solutions deliveringthe most cost-effective enterprise grade storage to the world's largest and smallest organisations, Darryll led the Go-To-Market efforts for existing solutions as well as new innovation. Overseeing a growth CAGR of 20% over three years, introducing a CRM system, building sales operations, hiring and coaching sales professionals and working closely with the Marketing team to introduce Account Based Marketing were a few of Darryll's successes.

Head of Sales

Maritech Dynamics Limited

I was asked to lead the charge to bring a new product suite to North America, while maintaining relationships with existing customer base as we moved forward. I was responsible for closing the first North American deals for the new suite, including to the largest land-based aquaculture business in North America. I helped organise local marketing and product development across teams in Canada and Norway.

Sales Manager

Metro English Canada

Focus Media Group Pty Ltd

Within two months of joining FMG, I was asked to help lead the day to day operations of the business. As Regional Manager I was responsible for 2 Sales teams, recruiting, training and coaching in a highly dynamic sales environment. I helped grow the top line revenue by over 300% over 2 years by implementing solid and scalable processes in the recruitment and sales operations areas.

Regional Manager

The Receivables Exchange

As Head of National Accounts, I look after the mid-market for the Receivables Exchange, providing executive and strategic support to these accounts. I also lead the charge in making The Receivables Exchange the best Customer Service oriented financial services organization in the world.

VP, Head of National Accounts

As VP of Seller Sales I am responsible for building and training the team of associates who educate B2B businesses about the newest model in business finance. The Receivables Exchange is the world’s first online marketplace for real-time trading of accounts receivable. Changing the landscape of small business financing by providing a new dimension in working capital management, The Receivables Exchange connects a global network of accredited investors (Buyers) to the nation’s millions of small and mid-sized businesses (Sellers) in search of capital to drive  growth. Buyers get direct access to an $18 trillion new investable asset; small businesses get to access to a new competitive working capital management solution by having their receivables bid on by multiple Buyers in real-time. To view a quick overview, visit http://www.receivablesxchange.com/video.

VP of Seller Sales

Prism Holdings USA

Operations Manager

Prism Europe

An experienced Technology Sales Leader, I have sold and led Sales teams in the fintech, computer hardware, ERP and seafood industries among others, in the UK, Germany, US and Canada. Expertise in coaching and training Sales teams, inspiring them to outstanding sales performance and building processes and structure that supports them.

At 45Drives I led revenue and team growth, working hand in hand with Marketing, Product and Customer Success leadership to increase Sales while making the team more efficient. I implemented the first full CRM system for the company in my first three months, helped secure the first 7 figure contract, launched Products such as Snapshield and introduced Account-Based Marketing Campaigns in cross-functional teams.

Ready to take your B2B Sales and Marketing organizations to the next level.

taplio

The Battle

Sam Jacobs

Darryll Gillard

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSam Jacobs's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Sam Jacobs

Darryll Gillard

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sam Jacobs's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSam Jacobs's LinkedIn Performance