I started my sales career at 11 years old, selling door-to-door snow removal services.

Since then, I’ve been obsessed with studying and applying the high performing strategies of world-class sellers. This eventually landed me an Account Executive role at Salesforce…where I hit a wall. A breaking point. My anxiety and stress had escalated to unsustainable levels and I considered quitting sales altogether.

That’s when I discovered Ian Koniak and Untap Your Sales Potential.

After working with Untap I became the #1 AE at Salesforce across the entire North American HLS business 2 years in a row, qualifying for President’s Club 2x. I was selected to join the Salesforce Excellence academy awarded to only the top 10% of AEs worldwide. Due to my performance I was chosen over 10,000 AEs to host the first globally distributed sales enablement podcast called “How I Won This”. 

I’ve closed over $10M in sales since working with UYSP. It’s allowed me to afford my dream wedding, honeymoon, and wonderful experiences for my family.  Most importantly, I got my life back. My stress and anxiety went down, my health got better, my relationships improved, and for the first time in a long time I felt confident in my sales career again.

Now as the CRO at UYSP, my goal is to impact hundreds of B2B tech sellers the same way I was. 

For the last three years I’ve talked to thousands of B2B sellers who feel unsupported, burnt out from the quota grind, or who are just not proud of how they’re showing up. That’s where we come in.

We help B2B Account Executives perform to their full potential by mastering their mindset, habits, and selling skills. 

To learn more, visit https://untapyoursalespotential.com

In 2026 my goal is to openly share the lessons, principles and strategies that have helped me become a high-performing seller over the past decade without sacrificing my health or happiness. 

Here is how you can engage with me: 

- Hit the “Follow” button on my profile for regular content on high performance, sales, and happiness (tap the bell icon for reminders)
- Send me a connection request with a note on how you found me or what caught your attention
- Subscribe to my podcast (featured) 

You can also contact me directly at:
	Personal: tanveer.mostafa35@gmail.com
	Business: tanveer@iankoniak.com

 Happy Selling 🙂

Tanveer Mostafa

2025 was the year it all came together for me. 

All the work I've been doing on myself over the past decade.

Here's my year in review:

• Travelled to LA/Singapore/Bali/Portugal 
• Closed a total of ~$3.2M ACV at 188% to quota
• Made pivot from Head of Sales to player-coach as CRO
• Led our sales team to ~$5.4M in revenue (58% YoY growth)
• Completed a 6 hr meditation as my annual Misogi challenge
• Got in the best physical shape of my life (but I'm not done yet)
• Deepened my faith more than ever  (finished Quran in 30 days)
• Hired 3 new team members and welcomed 200+ sellers into UYSP
• Made the shift from peak/high-performance to peaceful/heart performance

This was the year of surrender. Of letting go. Of truly detaching from outcomes.

It was uncomfortable and foreign, considering how much "the need to achieve" has ruled over me my entire life. I thought that making this shift might set me back...might make me lazy, unambitious and ultimately hurt my results. 

But frankly, I was tired of living the old way. Always feeling like whatever I did wasn't enough. That I wasn't enough. It was time to leave that version of me behind.

So I did, and it's led to the best year of my professional and personal life.

Of course I couldn't do all of this on my own. I worked with a great team, invested in coaches and mentors who guided me, and felt deeply supported by my wife and by the grace of God.

In 2026, my goal is to embody being a "creator". I want to create consistently and authentically from this new version of me. Create for myself, my team, and all of you. 

I invite you to follow along as I share the principles, habits, and tools I've used to merge high performance and happiness (aka heart performance). If it's possible for me, it's definitely possible for you.

With that...Happy New Year! 🎉 Excited to be on this journey together.

What was your biggest takeaway from 2025?

CRO @ Untap Your Sales Potential | I write about the intersections between sales, high-performance and happiness | Schedule your free sales strategy call with my team👇🏽

Sales is a 24/7 job.

If you want to really succeed, you won't get very far treating it like a 9-5.

Now before you come after me about work-life balance and all that, here me out.

The truth is that when you're in a demanding career like sales, how you perform outside of work directly influences how you perform at work and vice-versa.

If you don't get enough sleep, you'll feel sluggish the next day.
If you don't eat a clean diet, you'll find it challenging to stay energized.
If life at home is chaotic, it will find a way to show up in your work.

The best athletes in the world know that rest and recovery are just as (if not more) important as playing the sport itself. It's the same thing for sellers.

Now rest doesn't mean endless doomscrolling. It doesn't mean slamming a few cold ones to "take the edge off". And it definitely doesn't mean spending the whole night gaming (what I used to do).

Escapism might feel good in the short run but almost never in the long run.

I get it, work can be draining. But instead of running away you can replenish your energy by, for example, engaging in fulfilling hobbies. You might pick up a sport or try learning a new skill that's completely unrelated to work (I'm currently learning Japanese and working to improve my skills in the kitchen).

Focus on the things that have the biggest impact on your overall well-being like your diet, exercise, sleep, faith, etc.

And most importantly, prioritize your relationships. It's been extensively studied at Hardvard that the quality of our relationships have the highest degree of positive impact on our overall happiness above any other factor.

So no, I'm not asking you to pull our your laptop at 10pm and start sending emails. If anything it's the opposite.

I challenge you to approach your life outside of work with just as much intensity and ambition as you do with your life at work. I’m confident that you’ll find work will start to feel easier, less draining and more fulfilling.

Happy Selling 🙂

I woke up in a funk yesterday. I had so much work to do and I wasn't very motivated to do any of it. Sound familiar?

It happens to me every once in a while.

Within an hour I was looking at coffee shops in the area I could go to with my wife for a deep work session.

Within two hours we were there. 

Three hours later and I'd gotten all my work done and then some. Deep, meaningful, needle moving work (what we call RGAs - Revenue Generating Activities at Untap).

Sometimes all you need to do when you're not quite "feeling it" is to switch things up.

Try something new in your prospecting efforts tomorrow. 
Blast some of your favourite music.
Change your environment.
Move your body. 

Do anything except remain in the status quo. 

Nothing grows in the status quo. And if you're a follower of my content, than I've got a feeling that you love to grow.

Happy Selling 🙂

P.S. If you're in Toronto, highly recommend Chop-Hop.

It’s the start of 2026* (not 25 as I say in the video).

And everyone’s setting their New Year resolutions.

But before you do that, I have a challenge for you.

Are you up for it? If so, check out the video and let me know how you’ll embody the challenge this year.

My 2025 in 25 seconds.

I love making a short video like this every year because it reminds me of things that I almost forgot happened.

The trip down memory lane is always nice.

Full annual reflection coming out tomorrow but for now, this will do.

Your greatest enemy in sales is not your company, your manager, and it's definitely not your prospects.

It's you.

More specifically, the space between your ears. 

In 2026 if you don't take control of your thoughts and feelings, they will control you. 

It's happened to me many times in my sales career. A thought like "I might miss quota" pops up. But instead of catching that thought and replacing it, I've let it spiral out of control and it can damn near ruin my day - if not my week. The associated stress and anxiety that comes from those thoughts don't just manifest at work, they have equally impacted my life outside of work.

So what's the solution?

Practice the skill of awareness. This means zooming out and observing your thoughts and feelings without judgement. 

Then once you're aware of them, you can replace them with thoughts that serve you.

Or...you can choose to let them go altogether.

Most people are caught up in so much noise every day that they rarely take the time to "check-in". This allows the negatives thoughts and feelings to slowly eat away at you because they were never acknowledged. 

Often times practicing awareness comes from meditation, but it doesn't have to.
Maybe it's a quick check in with your body and your brain before your calls. 
It could be daily prayer that gives you a set time to sit down and reflect.
Or it could be a journaling routine right before bed.

Whatever you do, do something. 

You cannot fight a battle without a weapon. Your best weapon is awareness.

Happy Selling 🙂

P.S. I was reminded of this during a Fireside Chat we had yesterday with Mike Sullivan. 

His story is a true testament to how re-shaping your thoughts and your identity can completely change the trajectory of your life. Highly recommend giving him a follow!

P.S. Two of my favourite books on this topic are the Untethered Soul by Michael Singer and The Greatest Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

Those who win the battle for talent, win. The explosive growth of federal and defense tech has triggered an intense war for top-tier talent, fundamentally reshaping hiring strategies and industry dynamics. Companies are no longer just competing on product innovation—they're competing on their ability to attract, develop, and retain the right people.

But the solution isn’t as simple as just hiring the “best” talent. The reality is, the best talent has options. They’re not just looking for a job—they're looking for mission alignment, leadership they believe in, and a culture that enables them to thrive. This means companies need to shift their thinking. Instead of simply searching for great talent, they need to ask themselves:

- Are we positioned in a way that makes top talent want to choose us?

- Does our employer brand reflect the mission, challenge, and impact that high-caliber professionals are looking for?

- Are we structuring opportunities in a way that retains top performers once they’re inside the building?

In the fight for defense tech dominance, winning on talent isn’t just about who you hire—it’s about who wants to work for you in the first place. Those who figure this out will outpace the competition. Those who don’t will be left wondering why they can’t attract the people they need to scale.

Andrew Garcia

For tech sales skeptics:

"I just cleared $416k as a third-year AE, exactly four years after starting at this same company as a BDR on a $100k OTE.

People think you need to be a "natural-born charmer" to survive in this economy. 

I’m a shy, ADHD-type person who wins through strategy rather than personality. 

Last year, I was the only person on my team to hit quota, outperforming the next closest rep 5-to-1, I mastered a few high-impact skills. 

The secret is focusing on the one thing that actually moves the needle and ignoring everything else."

Break into Tech Sales | Defense Tech Talent | Teaching people how to pursue mastery in tech sales

The Arena is hiring.

The Arena's performance in a few words...

We started in 2024 with Just me and Eric.
We did $198K in revenue - rough start
in 2025 we started slow but in March things picked up 
We hired Brock in May
Brock crushed. Got his first placement in less than 30 days.
We finished the 2025 year at $790K
We are 22 days into 2026 and have already hit $126K
We should hit 7 figures in 2026

I made a bet early in the formation of the business that if I focus on making the people that work in The Arena the best they can possibly be. If I do everything I can to support and enable them. They will take care of our customers and in turn the business will naturally grow. 

So far, that's worked. 

We are looking to add our next member to the team. 

We need someone who can help us build a business development engine. 
Someone who can get us meetings with new clients consistently. 

Specifically looking for:
Business Development Representative
2-4 years Defense Experience
Talent/Recruiting experience
Likes golf

$100K - $120K OTE

DM or comment people you think might be a good fit.

Getting people jobs in customer-facing tech roles | Defense Tech Talent | Teaching people how to pursue mastery in tech sales

After 10 years of being a dogless family. We caved.


Name: Moses

Breed: Toy Goldendoodle

Favorite Treat: Bone

Annoying Habit: Peeing on my feet while I’m on a zoom call with customers.

Cute Factor: 1000/10

Regret: No Ragrets




He’s a 3-month old walking poop machine but somehow I freakin love this dude. 

My kids love him even more.

For those debating on whether to get the dog or not.

Get it.

Just keep it under 6lbs.

No alternative text description for this image

Pursuit Member Offer:
$155,178.00 Base
+ $60,000 in stocks
+ Commission
+ Benefits
+ Remote work

How did they get the job?

They found the side door inside Microsoft...

- Not by applying on the careers page
- Not by getting a referral
- Not by blindly networking

They followed a proven system and it worked.

But, we all know systems are not enough.
If they were we'd all read "think and grow rich" and we'd all be millionaires. 

We need more than systems

We need to develop the philosophy.

The sweet spot is having systems + a sound philosophy

The philosophy is what you believe.

The mindset
The vision
The habits

That's why people don't get rich from reading books, why they don't learn to ride a bike in a classroom and why people don't get jobs in tech sales from following everyone else.

They accomplish the goal from going out in a messy world with less information and experience than they wish they had and they execute.

Happy to give you both:
System + Philosophy

We are hosting an instructional meeting this Friday January 23rd 
from 2 - 3pm EST on google meet.

I'll share the system and the philosophy that has helped hundreds of people with zero sales experience break into tech sales.

Link to join is in the comments.

$155,178.00 + $60K in stocks + Commission... offer from Microsoft to Pursuit member with ZERO sales experience.
If I wasn’t worried about hurting your feelings, here’s what I’d tell you.


Most people fail because they refuse to confront a few uncomfortable truths.

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭: 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝.

And that’s worse.

Ignored means nothing you’re presenting creates enough signal for someone to engage. 

> Your resume doesn’t stand out. 
> Your outreach doesn’t spark curiosity. 
> Your conversations don’t create confidence. 

So the system quietly moves on without you.


𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝: 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬.

You apply online because it feels productive. 

You tweak your resume because it feels controllable. 

You wait for recruiters because it feels legitimate.

None of that creates leverage.

Real leverage comes from doing the things most candidates avoid:

> initiating conversations with future peers
> uncovering real problems inside the company
> showing how you think before you’re asked
> putting your judgment on display

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝: 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Job seekers love proxies:

> certifications
> brand-name companies
> titles
> years of experience

Hiring managers don’t hire those things. They hire confidence in future performance.

And confidence comes from signal:

>how you reason through ambiguity
> how you frame problems
> how you communicate under pressure
> how you prepare without being told

𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡: 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬.

The best candidates don’t wait for interviews to prove themselves.

They show up with:
> a point of view on the market
> insight into the team’s challenges
> a plan for the territory
> clarity around what actually matters this quarter

They make hiring managers’ jobs easier by answering the questions before they’re asked.

𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐡 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭): 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.

If your only goal is to “land the job,” you’ll always feel fragile. 

If your goal is to become someone who thinks clearly, communicates well, and solves real problems—you become hard to ignore and even harder to fire.

That’s the real work. And most people won’t do it.

Not because they can’t. But because it requires honesty, effort, and a willingness to be seen.

If this hit close to home, good. That’s where change actually starts.
​
If you want to learn how to change I'm hosting a call this friday to share insights on how we are getting people jobs in tech sales at a success rate of +92%.

Friday, Jan 23rd
2-3pm EST via Google Meet

Link in comments

I get DMs every week with the same questions about salaries, commissions, and how to plan a career in this tech sales.

There isn't a "standard" out there, so I put this together as a reference point for the different paths you can take:

1. Individual Contributor Track 
Focus: Mastering the skill of closing deals and managing territory.

• SDR/ISR (Entry Level): 12–18 months | $65K–$130K. You focus on high-volume outreach (calls/emails) to qualify leads and book meetings.

• Account Executive (Mid-Market): 2–3 years | $140K–$200K. You manage the full sales cycle for smaller companies, handling everything from the first demo to the signed contract.

• Enterprise/Strategic AE: 5+ years | $300K–$800K+. You manage massive, multi-year contracts with global corporations. These roles require high-level negotiation skills and patience for 6–12 month deal cycles.

2. Sales Management Track 
Focus: Scaling revenue through hiring, coaching, and strategy.

• Team Lead / Frontline Manager: 18–24 months | $180K–$250K. You transition from selling yourself to coaching a small team of reps to hit their targets.

• VP of Sales / CRO: 5–10+ years | $500K–$2M+. You oversee the entire revenue engine. At this level, a significant portion of your wealth comes from company equity (ownership) rather than just a salary.

3. Technical Specialist Track 
Focus: Deep product expertise and technical problem-solving.

• Product Specialist: 18–30 months | $130K–$180K. You act as the subject matter expert on a specific feature or niche within the software.

• Sales Engineer / Solutions Architect: 3–5 years | $180K–$350K. You partner with sales reps to handle the technical "how it works" side, including product demos and security reviews.

• Principal Solutions Engineer: Career role | $300K–$450K+. The peak of the technical path for those who want to solve complex problems without managing a team.

4. Entrepreneurship & Advisory 
Focus: Leveraging sales experience for equity and consulting.

• Sales Consultant / Coach: $150K–$500K. You are hired as an outside expert to fix specific sales processes, typically charging $300–$1,000 per hour.

• Startup Advisor: 0.1%–1% Equity stake. You trade a few hours of monthly strategic advice for a piece of ownership in a growing company.

• Founder / CEO: Variable. You use your ability to sell to build your own company. You take a lower salary ($50K–$150K) in exchange for high equity (10%–50%+).

How to Choose

- Choose Individual Contributor if you want high autonomy and a direct link between your personal effort and your paycheck.

- Choose Management if you enjoy hiring, developing people, and building systems.

- Choose Technical if you prefer being the "expert in the room" and enjoy solving the technical puzzles of how software fits into a business.

- Choose Entrepreneurship once you have a proven "playbook" and want to trade a steady salary for ownership and long-term wealth.

Sellers hitting 200% quota have 2-3 years of tenure.

The reason is obvious. They have the best accounts.

1. It takes time to earn your manager’s trust so they pass along the gold leads, including referrals. 

Managers route high-intent inbound leads to the reps they trust most. 

These reps have established LinkedIn profiles and professional credibility, which are required to handle high-stakes introductions and referrals effectively.

2. It takes patience to wait for peers to leave or give up account ownership.

Tenure allows you to inherit accounts from departing reps. 

You are not starting from scratch. 

You are taking over existing threads and LinkedIn engagement history that has already been nurtured by a predecessor.

3. It takes consistent performance to move into the best segments and territories. 

Moving into enterprise segments is the result of consistent wins. 

These territories provide better access to data-driven intent signals and higher-value stakeholders, making it easier to scale deal sizes through the platform.

The best sellers eventually get the best accounts.

$78,000.00 base 
+ $78,000.00 target variable 
+ $56.25/hr overtime

Oracle signed this deal with a candidate who wasn't "market ready."

People love a pat on the back.

I’m going to give you the truth instead.

The reason you’re stuck isn’t a lack of talent.

It’s a refusal to stop playing a losing game.

Your problem isn’t rejection. It’s total invisibility.

And that is a much harder wall to climb.

Being invisible means you are making zero impact on the people who make decisions.

Your LinkedIn looks like a carbon copy. Your messages sound like a template.

Your presence generates zero curiosity.

The job market doesn't hate you. It doesn't know you exist.

You are busy being "productive" instead of being effective.

You spend 4+ hours a day on job boards because it feels like progress.

It isn't. It's just a way to stay safe inside a system that doesn't care about you.

You're checking boxes while the winners are building bridges.

Real momentum happens when you lean into the friction:

-hunting down the person who actually owns the problem

-speaking the language of the business

-not the HR manual proving your logic before they even ask for a resume

-standing behind your own judgment

You’re using your past as a shield because you’re afraid of the future.

Most candidates want to talk about what they did 3+ years ago.

Companies like Oracle are hiring for what needs to happen 2-3 months from today.

They want a solution.

Certainty is the only thing they’re buying:

-how you handle a crisis when the script fails

-how you strip the complexity out of a mess

-how you stay focused when the pressure hits $56/hr 

-how you move when there is no roadmap

The 1% of sellers don’t wait for an interview to show they can handle a territory.

They show up with the work already done.

They bring:

-a blunt assessment of why the current strategy is lagging

-a clear map of where the revenue is actually hiding

-a 90-day plan that makes a manager’s job ten times easier

They don't hope for a "yes." They make a "no" look like a mistake.

You’re focused on the salary.

When you should be focused on the transformation.

If you’re just looking for a check, you’ll always be a commodity.

If you become the person who solves high-stakes problems. 

The money becomes a side effect.

That is the shift.

And most people are too scared to make it.

Not because it’s impossible.

But because it requires you to stop hiding behind "the process."

If this makes you angry, pay attention to that.

That’s the part of you that knows you’re capable of more.

I’m breaking down exactly how to make this shift during a live session this week.

We’re showing people how to stop being "applicants" and start being "authorities."

Friday, Jan 23rd 2-3pm EST via Google Meet

Link in comments

Even career experts are failing their own kids. 

A 20-year career coach tried helping their son find a job 

Then realized the "best practices" they've taught for decades are now effectively dead.

The son was highly qualified and applied to 400+ jobs over 8 months. 

They followed every traditional rule.

Tailored cover letters, one-week follow-ups, and thank-you notes. 

Out of 400 applications, he heard back from only 15. 

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝟯.𝟳% 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲.

The parent admitted they used to assume people who got ghosted were just "unqualified" or "lazy." 

Watching their own son follow the rules and still get ignored proved that hiring no longer favors fairness.

Beyond the broken system, there is a deeper issue of 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆.

People who rely on the "spray-and-pray" method are effectively giving up control over their own careers. 

By sending out a mass volume of applications and simply accepting whatever comes back, you risk landing in a role that doesn't align with your actual goals or passions.

To maintain a strategic advantage, the focus must shift from pure volume to intentionality. 


Relying on a numbers game turns your professional path into a reactionary process.

True success in the current market requires a more targeted approach that keeps the power in your hands.

If you’re pitching a prospect this week

For the love of your conversion rate: Stop feature-dumping.

You are paid to be the expert. They are paid to get results.

When you explain every bell and whistle

You aren’t being "thorough." You sound like noise.

How I simplify my pitches to keep the "flooded" mind focused in sales meetings:

1/ The "Netflix" Check.

Think about how you use software. Do you use every feature on Netflix? TikTok? LinkedIn? Of course not. You use the 2 or 3 things that give you value.

Your prospect is the same. 
They don't want the "full tour."
They want the shortcut to the outcome.

2/ Acknowledge the "Elephant in the Room."

Your prospect’s mind is a war zone. 
They have deadlines. They have family drama. 
They are sleep-deprived and distracted by their X feed or the show they’re binging on HBO.

They aren't "checked in" to your technical specs. 
They are checking their watch. 
Keep it simple so they don't have to work to understand you.

3/ Forget "Incremental"—Focus on "Drastic."

Don't talk about things that will "minutely" change their day. 
Nobody buys "slightly better." 

Focus on the 2 or 3 levers that will 10x or 100x their business. 
Everything else is just an "add-on" they can learn later.

4/ Respect the "Rule of Three."

The human brain is hardwired for trilogies.

Stoplights have 3 colors.

Pricing models have 3 tiers.

"Third time's the charm."

If you give them 10 points, they remember 0. 
If you give them 3, they might actually take action.

5/ The Knowledge Gap is Your Friend.

You have a deep understanding because this is your job. 
They don't have that knowledge, and here's the kicker—they don't want it. 

They want to trust that you have it so they don't have to.
Your job isn't to make them an expert in your product. 

It's to get them to the desired outcome as clearly as possible.

Everyone talks about getting ghosted after an interview, but nobody talks about the roles we talk ourselves out of before even hitting the 'apply' button.

“I don’t know the jargon.”
“I’ve never closed a deal in a CRM.”
“I’m coming from a totally different world.”
“They want a pro, and I’m just a beginner.”

1⃣ Job descriptions are wish lists, not hard requirements.  Most companies never find the "perfect" candidate. They hire the best person available who can do the work, even if they don't check every box.

2⃣ Candidates with 60% of the requirements are already applying.  While you wait until you hit 90% or 100% to feel "qualified," someone with fewer skills has already submitted their application and started the process.

3⃣ Competence is built on the job, not before it.  You don't become "ready" for a sales role by waiting. The actual skills and experience only come once you are in the seat and doing the work.

4⃣ The actual cost of a rejection is zero.  If you apply and don’t get it, you are in the exact same position you are in right now. No one penalizes you for trying; you just move on to the next lead.

Stop being the gatekeeper of your own career.

Why 2026 looks exactly like 2016

We’ve officially hit the “everything old is new again” stage of outbound.

In 2022, the consensus was that cold calling was dead, "personalization at scale" was the future, and business travel wasn't worth the ROI.

In 2026, the reality has flipped. 

Inboxes are so saturated with AI-generated fluff that "personalization" has become white noise. 

Cold calls are cutting through because the phone is the only place your prospect isn't being hit by a bot. 

In-person meetings have moved from optional to the ultimate status signal.

Outbound doesn't evolve in a straight line; it runs in cycles. 

Efficiency has been commoditized.

Friction in the phone, the plane ticket, and deep research is where the alpha is now.

Deals are lost before the meeting starts by trying to cover too much. 

Cramming discovery, pricing, and use cases into a single session with a CFO kills momentum. It leaves zero energy for the follow-up.

High performers split the load instead of stacking it.

1/ One Meeting, One Objective. 

If the goal isn't clear enough to summarize in one sentence, the meeting is poorly structured. Executives trust reps who respect their cognitive load.

2/ Sequence the Delivery. 

Don't dump your deck. Break the additional data into standalone, scheduled follow-ups. This earns attention over time instead of exhausting it in 30 minutes.

3/ The Early Exit. 

Clarity beats coverage. Finishing early with a sharp next step signals seniority. It’s the fastest way to build VP-level confidence and move from "vendor" to "peer."

2025 Year in Review: ChatGPT version
I decided to ask ChatGPT to give me a recap of how i used it in 2025. Pretty interesting...

I didn’t start 2025 as some elite AI power user.

I started it asking ChatGPT the same question over and over:
“Give me 6 non-obvious insights of things I should be thinking about that I’m likely not thinking about that will help me in this effort.”

And honestly?

That question is solid.

It’s how you surface the unknown unknowns.
It’s how you avoid blind spots.
It’s how you don’t confuse confidence with completeness.

The problem wasn’t the question.
The problem was what I did next.

Early 2025, my workflow looked like this:

- Ask for non-obvious insights
- Discover 3 new things I should build
- Add them to the pile
- Feel productive
- Ship… eventually

Over time, my prompts changed.

I still asked for non-obvious insights—but then I followed them with:
- “Which of these actually matters in the next 90 days?”
- “What behavior should change if this works?”
- “Turn this into something someone else can execute without me.”
- “Reduce this to the few standards that actually move outcomes.”

That evolution taught me something important:

The highest-leverage use of AI isn’t speed. It’s standardization.

AI is great at helping you think faster.

It’s even better at helping you decide what should always be true.

Once I stopped using ChatGPT to generate more ideas
and started using it to:
- Codify standards
- Enforce constraints
- Turn judgment into repeatable systems

…things actually started to compound.

My rule going into 2026 is simple:

If it doesn’t improve proof, adoption, or outcomes in 90 days, it doesn’t get built.

Link to prompt i used to get my 2025 ChatGPT review and my own personal review is in the linkin comments.

Reps often notice month-over-month changes in performance and assume market conditions or buyer behavior are to blame. Sometimes that’s true but guessing is useless.

When something shifts, the only way forward is diagnosis. That requires breaking activity into measurable components: volume, quality, conversion, and outcomes. Without detailed tracking, you’re reacting emotionally instead of analytically. Sales doesn’t punish effort it punishes unmeasured effort.

The job hunt process is the sales process. 
That's the 🗝️ 

This is true for ALL jobs ever in the history of jobs. 




Let me explain...

Most job seekers think their problem is not enough opportunities.

It’s not.

The real problem is too many low-quality bets.

Applying to 50 roles feels productive.

It’s not.

It creates:
• scattered prep
• shallow research
• rushed interviews
• reactive networking

High-performing candidates do the opposite.

They pick a small number of roles.

They learn those roles deeply.

They talk to the right people early.

They show up to interviews calm, specific, and credible.

This isn’t about working harder.

It’s about working with intention.

If your job search feels exhausting, it’s usually a signal that:
your scope is too broad, or
your process isn’t connected.

Clarity beats volume.

Structure beats hustle.

Pedigree helps.

Process wins.

Juliano crushing some calls with a proven process.
👇👇👇👇

Most people read the post below and think: “Wow. That veteran just needs more reps.”

That’s the wrong conclusion.

The truth is harsher—and more useful:

Late-stage interviews don’t reward effort, experience, or even competence.

They reward signal density.

By the time you’re deep in the process, everyone is “qualified.”

Everyone has a story.

Everyone has done impressive things.

What separates the finalist from the runner-up is not background—it’s translation.

1. Can you compress years of experience into a clear, inspectable line of reasoning?
2. Can you connect actions to outcomes without being prompted?
3. Can you make a hiring manager relax because they trust how you think?

This is why so many high-performing veterans (and civilians) get “you were close” feedback.

They’re still playing the early-game rules in a late-game environment.

Here’s the uncomfortable part:

If an interviewer has to work to understand your value, you’ve already lost.
Not because you’re weak—but because attention is the real currency in these rooms.

The people who win don’t talk more.

They make it easier to judge them.

That’s the skill most candidates never train.

And it’s the one that quietly decides who gets the offer.

Read the post below with that lens.

This week, a Pursuit member forwarded me a rejection email from a late-stage interview.

The company?

A Fortune 100 tech firm. You know the name.

Here’s the part that matters:

This candidate is a recently retired, 20-year Air Force veteran with zero formal sales experience.

And they still made it deep into the process.
That alone tells you something.

The rejection wasn’t about pedigree.

It wasn’t about “lack of sales background.”

It wasn’t about capability.

Two lines of feedback stood out:

1. “There’s an opportunity to strengthen your narrative and storytelling.”

2. “We were looking for a stronger connection between product capabilities and quantified business value.”

This is where high-potential veterans tend to stumble—especially late in interviews.

Not because they aren’t qualified.

Because they don’t yet know how the game is scored.

Trap #1: Letting Experience Sit Untranslated

Veterans don’t lack experience. They lack translation.

Interviewers aren’t listening for a chronology. They’re listening for a through-line:
1. Why you made the moves you made
2. How those moves shaped how you think
3. What problems you’re now uniquely equipped to solve

If that narrative isn’t explicit, the interviewer has to infer it.

They won’t.

Trap #2: Talking About Tasks Instead of Outcomes

Military culture rewards execution.

Business culture rewards outcomes.

Weak signal sounds like:

“We used X system / tool / process.”

Strong signal sounds like:
“The problem was __, it created risk or cost __, and this mattered because it changed ___.”

Revenue. Risk. Time. Decision velocity.

Veterans often do this work—they just don’t frame it this way yet.

And late in interviews, framing is everything.

The Bigger Lesson

Interviews aren’t persuasion exercises.
They’re inspection environments.

Hiring teams are asking:
1. How do you think under pressure?
2. Can you simplify complexity?
3. Can we trust your judgment in front of customers?

This member didn’t fail.
They hit the edge of a skill they haven’t trained yet.

That’s the work.

And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

It was never about experience.

It was about signal.

I recorded a detailed video on how I would do things differently and how to train to avoid falling into these traps.

Love seeing these wins from our members. 

Anthony is a real one. 

ADP - I hope you know you've got rocky balboa as a sales rep over there... 


Adriaaaaaaaaaaaa....

SBS Account Executive @ ADP | Army Veteran

Happy to announce that I’ve been promoted to District Manager at ADP! The transition from military to sales was a somewhat daunting prospect, but I can confidently say that this was the best decision of my professional career. A special thank you to Andrew Garcia for opening my eyes to the world of tech sales and to my SE Chase Hahnemann for the constant support and mentorship.

A chorus of billionaires, tech titans, and venture capitalists are predicting that the sales industry will be reshaped into bots selling to bots

AI is still a prisoner of tokens and compute.

It's clueless in complex settings that mix with human dynamics

(so everything important).

The nepotism, biases, emotions, and leverage that drive money in sales are lived experiences that do not come from pretraining.

I recently tried to migrate my newsletter subscribers from Kajabi to Kit. 

I hit a snag with the import, so I turned to customer support.
 
I didn’t realize it was a chatbot at first.

No good employee would find this hard or keep saying the same thing over and over again.

The technology is new. 

It’s years away from replacing you, especially if your job needs brainpower when things go wrong.

Leverage it to your advantage, focus on building your skill stack, and approach the slop with a sense of humor. 

You have 10+ years to close enough deals.

Spending that time angry and worried seems like a waste of human life.

Why networking isn't moving the needle on your job hunt like you thought it would...



Here’s the pattern I see over and over:

Find a job
Apply
Start “networking”

By then, your name is already in an ATS.

That changes the dynamic.

Now every conversation feels risky.

People get guarded.

Advice gets vague.

Good networking doesn’t happen after you apply.

It happens before you’ve declared intent.

And here’s the second mistake:

Most candidates aim their networking at hiring managers and recruiters.

That’s why it feels awkward.

Those people carry risk.

Future peers don’t.

The people already doing the job:
• respond more often
• speak more honestly
• aren’t evaluating you yet

They’re just answering questions.
This is especially true for veterans and career-switchers.
They don’t usually lose because they lack ability.

They lose because their process is chaotic:
• too many applications
• no tracking
• random conversations
• no follow-through

Chaos creates anxiety.
Anxiety shows up in interviews.
Networking isn’t about being charismatic.
It isn’t about asking for favors.
And it definitely isn’t about sending more LinkedIn messages.

It’s about being:
• early
• specific
• intentional

Most people aren’t bad at networking.

They were just never taught how professionals actually do it.

pursuit.vet

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