2023 is coming to an end.

For many, it could not come soon enough. 

The tech industry has seen 224,000 jobs lost in 2023, a number that’s 50% higher than last year and growing. (TechCrunch)

We’ve watched major tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, Yahoo, Meta, and Zoom have mass reductions in their workforces earlier in the year. 

And while layoffs seem to be slowing down, the sentiment of growth at the lowest costs is not.

Yet, with every difficulty, there is an opportunity.

We are now at 2,500+ readers of the Collab (since launching in October). I’m filled with intense gratitude to be building this newsletter to help you find your way to more opportunities and greater success in 2024.

Let’s dive into the final issue of 2023.

The Big Idea

Lessons in Community & Collaboration

If I learned anything this year it’s the importance of community and collaboration.

Lesson 1: The Power of Community 

Amidst all the turmoil of 2023, community has shown it’s as important as ever.

Community is a place for belonging and helping one another. From an individual standpoint, we are leveraging community to not just get better at our jobs, but to find new jobs, new clients, and build a network of trusted advisors. 

RevGenius has seen new members increase this year by 12% purely through organic growth. 

We also launched RevRoom earlier this year for Senior Executives to give them an even more intimate space to connect and collaborate. 

During the most difficult of times, working with one another to benefit the collective is how we get through things. I’ve seen people in RevGenius and RevRoom lift others by connecting them with opportunity when needed as well as collaborating on the future of go-to-market. 

This has helped companies improve and weather the storm.

Companies that actively lean into community are also showing the fruits of their commitment, driving more community-led deals in the pipeline and revenue streams just by having team members show up, answer questions, and provide thought leadership. 

Those who lean in further to sponsor communities drive even more impact. We have seen early-stage companies like Syncari drive over a million dollars in pipeline and increase their brand awareness and Nooks increase their monthly opportunities by 657%.

People connect with and trust companies that show up in spaces that help them. 

I see this continuing even more so in 2024 and beyond.

Lesson 2: Collaboration will be the key to growth.

No matter the economic conditions, it’s clear that executives’ (and employees’ in general) tenure at companies is getting shorter and shorter. 

It’s made many look for other opportunities to earn personal income.

People have turned to fractional work, advising, consulting, influencer/creator deals, and other independent (from a typical W2) streams of revenue gained from working with companies. 

Companies are searching for people to work in these capacities too. It’s allowing them to be leaner and more flexible without sacrificing experience. 

The go-to-market organization is shifting; even more than many realize.

We are now in the age of growth at the lowest costs. Companies need to be more efficient and effective with their spending.

In growth at the lowest cost, when early-stage companies have a leadership need they hire a fractional (part-time C-level contractor) because the risks to top and bottom-line growth are too high to risk hiring the wrong full-time leader.

Companies are also using this blueprint tactically to bring in influencers and creators vs just spending traditionally on ads. 

And they’re seeing great success. I see this only growing in 2024. 

In both RevGenius and RevRoom we’ve witnessed both these shifts. 

Both companies and individuals alike would be well-situated to invest their resources in aligning with both for 2024. 

(in case you missed it, check out “Collaborative Growth has Arrived”)

How are you planning on leveraging community and collaborative growth in 2024?

2 Resources

I. 2023 Wrapped: The top content pieces from RevGenius this year

A listing of the top 5 webinars, podcast episodes, and articles from RevGenius in 2023. (check them out here)

II. More than 40 investors share their top predictions for 2024

TechCrunch+ surveyed more than 40 venture capital investors about how they are preparing for next year and what they expect. (read here)

3 Collaborators

I. Anne Pao

Anne has helped build the go-to-market foundation at Tubular Labs (acquired), Airship (Series F), Heap (Series D), Maven Clinic (Series E), Medallia (IPO), and Gilead Sciences (Fortune 500); taking companies from $25M to $100M to $350M to > $5B in revenue.

Often brought in as an interim RevOps executive or CRO, she partners with her clients to develop, embed, and up-level the teams, systems, and processes required to “ignite” growth and fuel an efficient go-to-market engine. (LinkedIn)

II. Maranda Dziekonski

Maranda is a ground-up builder with over 20 years of experience building and scaling teams in early and mid-stage startups. Her specialties are in Customer Success (B2B, B2C, B2B2C), Customer Support (B2B, B2C), Tech Support, Contact Centers (Inbound/Outbound), Sales, and various other teams in operations. She’s been honored as a Top 100 Customer Success Strategist, and Top 25 Customer Success Influencer, and sits on numerous boards. (LinkedIn)

III. Wayne Morris

Wayne has stress-tested and iterated go-to-market frameworks to build scale and repeatability into the sales process across multiple industries within SaaS and Marketplace startups (MarTech, AdTech, EventTech, EdTech, and GovTech. It’s resulted in:

• Helping 2 companies exit for $150M+, and 2 more that are still going very strongly.

• Average annual contract (ACV) values growing 15x

• Annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew 20x

• Top-line revenues grew from $0 to $20M

• His teams have a 50% or better meeting-to-close-rate (outperforming the industry average of 22%) (LinkedIn)

On LinkedIn

Thanks for reading!

Have any awesome folks you’d like to refer?

Reply to this email and let us know what you’d like to see more. And a big thank you to all who made it to this point.

Until next week,

Jared

3 ways I can help you scale your business: