James Isilay founded Cognism a B2B sales intelligence company together with Stjepan Buljat in 2015. James had previously worked as a quantitative trader and analyst and studied Information Systems Engineering. Cognism helps you identify your ideal customers globally, find others like them, and reach out when they are most likely to buy.
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What you will learn
- The power of networking as you build your career
- The importance of making top tier hires when scaling your business
- Scaling internationally is how you win in today’s market
- Why SDR’s should be working in office
Highlights
(3:05) James’ career journey that led him to become a founder(8:09) Factors that drew James into being a financial trader early on in his career
(14:55) James’ inflection point quitting his 9-5 to start Cognism
(18:12) James’ learnings from his early days building Cognism
(20:33) How James calibrated excellence across his team
(27:08) Cognism’s take on in office vs remote work
(31:28) Listener question: The “need to haves” on a go-to-market tech stack
(36:40) Hot take: every company should be expanding and building a sales capacity globally
(42:38) Value loops and ungated content is the way to succeed
Quotes
Tools can make certain metrics better, but you need human intelligence to evolve it to the next level.
Treat each country like a startup when joining a different global market.
Links and Resources
James’ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-isilay/
Cognism’s Website: https://www.cognism.com
The Diary of a First Time CMO book here.
The GTM Podcast
Don’t miss The .GTM Podcast dropping every Tuesday discussing true stories and experiences including trials and tribulations in the Go-To-Market world.
And…monthly bonus podcast episodes dropping the first Thursday of every month.
