Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Ross.
Aaron, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
– In 1999, I got into Stanford Business School, but dropped it to found an internet company (LeaseExchange.com).
– Company went bankrupt in 2001 (we’d raised $5m total). One reason: I as CEO didn’t know professional sales and how to build a sales team.
– Went to work at Salesforce.com in 2002…I knew before I started another company, I’d have to learn sales and where better than selling at Salesforce?
– All they had was the lowest-level entry level sales job, but I took it.
– Created a new kind of outbound sales process and team, that added $100M to salesforce.com‘s revenue in a few years (and by now more than $1 billion).
– Left in 2006 to figure out what I wanted to do next with my life.
– Spent a year as an “entrepreneur in residence” at a venture capital firm. While there, in 2007 I realized that I didn’t want to start another tech company, or raise money. I most wanted to figure out how to make as much money as I wanted, doing what I loved. I didn’t know what that was yet, but I knew I could figure it out.
– Spent a few years wandering and experimenting with business ideas, & moved to LA (2008).
– In 2011 got married, and I had my “oh shit” moment of “I have to make more money, more regularly to support my family”. My wife had two kids prior, plus we were pregnant very fast after we got married.
– That year, being highly motivated, I self-published “Predictable Revenue”…. which went on to become ‘the sales bible of Silicon Valley’ over the next few years, though word-of-mouth.
– We ended up having and adopting 6 more kids after that… we have 9 total now.
– Growing a big family was and is very expensive. We didn’t have the money to do it, which created more incentive/motivation to keep my income growing.
– Income grew 10x, mostly through consulting.
– Today, I’m cofounder of a growing $2.5M business (and 2 smaller ones), plus I do paid speaking.
– Why so many kids, and why adopt? We didn’t have big families ourselves, we just love kids and a big family and felt adoption was important.
– It’s hard and exhausting juggling so many kids and multiple businesses… I work about 20 hours a week.
– With so many kids (and two of them right now are babies), it’s very hard on my wife, who struggles to pursue her passion of opera singing and music and never gets good sleep as she’s still breastfeeding.
– I feel like I’ve accomplished 1% of where this is all going.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Extra challenging, time and focus management: in 6 years grew my income 10x, published 2 books and went from zero to 9 kids, while working ~20 hours a week (dad work is 100 hours a week).
Please tell us about Predictable Revenue.
I’m famous in the software world (or the sales & CEO part of it) for writing Predictable Revenue, and being the “godfather” of outbound prospecting. The outbound sales system I created at Salesforce.com, I help other b2b companies with sales teams implement so they can grow sales faster, with more predictability.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Tough…building Lego ships and cities, and playing board games., or shooting model rockets
Pricing:
- Predictable University Outbound Sales Training: $2610
- Predictable Revenue Mastermind Sales Coaching (for B2B CEOs / VP Sales): $30,000+ for 12 months
- Accelerate Team Service (Outsourced Prospecting for B2B companies): $24,000 for 6 months
Contact Info:
- Website: www.PredictableRevenue.com
- Phone: 310-751-0656
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/aaronross383
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/motoceo
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/motoceo
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
