Enterprise Sales Model Dying

Brian Halligan shares his perspective on the evolution of enterprise software sales and business models, particularly highlighting the decline of traditional enterprise software companies with large sales forces.

• Traditional Enterprise Software Model is Declining:

  • "Ye olde enterprise software companies with ye olde giant outside salesforces" - time has passed for this model
  • Despite being wrong about this prediction before, believes this trend is now real

• New Business Model Emerging:

  • Companies are starting with small businesses first
  • Examples of successful companies using this approach:
    • Shopify
    • Stripe
    • HubSpot

• Why Enterprise-First Approach is Challenging:

  • Extensive compliance work required
  • Many checkboxes needed for approval
  • Complex and difficult sales model
  • Describes it as a "tough road to hell"

• Personal Experience:

  • Despite growing up in enterprise sales himself
  • Acknowledges the irony of criticizing the industry he came from
  • Believes the industry has fundamentally changed

• Future Direction:

  • New breed of companies emerging
  • Different way of selling and growing
  • Bottom-up approach more viable than targeting Fortune 500 companies first

This represents a significant shift in how software companies should approach building and scaling their businesses, moving away from traditional enterprise-first models to more modern, bottom-up approaches.