133 Creating Categories, Movements, & Startups with Sangram Vajre, WSJ Bestselling Author of MOVE

Lochhead on Marketing

On this episode of Lochhead on Marketing, we go on a deep dive into category design, community building, to starting a company and becoming a category leader with Sangram Vajre. Sangram Vajre is the co-founder of Terminus. He is also the author of a WSJ bestselling book called MOVE: The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework. We touch on the different startup marketing topics, including how to avoid the SaaS Valley of Death. We also talk about how to build a scalable marketing and sales model. Most importantly, we talk about how to leverage your competition to build your category. Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing, the number one charting marketing podcast for marketers, category designers, and entrepreneurs with a different mind. Sangram Vajre on his Bestselling Book, MOVE Sangram shares the one question that he always gets when he talks about his book. That is, why did he put THAT specific quote on the cover? The particular quote was made by me, and it read: “Love the guys, but hate this book.” Sangram explains that he has a good reason for putting it up right in front for everyone to see. “I think you and I both know that everybody feels like they're walking on eggshells. They can't say anything. Everything has to has to be politically correct. Everything has to be in agreement. I think people have forgotten a good way to discourse. That it's okay for two people to have completely different opinions. And that’s the point of being people. Otherwise, we’ll be animals eating each other.” – Sangram Vajre Coming in from Another Angle Sangram then explains that while his heart bleeds category design and creation, he believes that not every company should be a category creator. To him, there are some that are not destined to be category creators, and that is fine. They could still be a better company; they just have to approach it from a different angle. That’s where his book, MOVE, comes to play. “There are 99% of the companies out there in the world, who probably are following suit to become a better company. And this book is for them. If you want to build a category, go and read Play Bigger. But if you want to build a great high performing revenue team in your organization, I hope you'll take a look at my book.” – Sangram Vajre Sangram Vajre on Engaging the Community to Create a Bestseller Sangram talks about his process on making this bestseller of a book. He says that he has always believed that without a community, you’re just a commodity. “I truly believe that every company needs to think about building a community before they think about the product they want to build. Because your community is what's going to give you the float that you need to get your business going.” – Sangram Vajre So consult the community, he did. He would send out early parts of his book and asked people for their feedback. Those that gave him feedback, he made sure to acknowledge in his book. So when the book became a WSJ bestselling book, his community who gave their feedbacks are now part of it, which gave his community an even greater sense of belonging. To hear more from Sangram Vajre and how to become a high-performing company in your market, download and listen to this episode. Bio Sangram Vajre is the co-founder and chief evangelist of Terminus. Before Terminus, Vajre led the marketing team at Pardot through its acquisition by ExactTarget and then Salesforce. He is also the author of Account-Based Marketing For Dummies and is the mastermind behind #FlipMyFunnel. Links LinkedIn: in/SangramVajre Twitter: @SangramVajre Check out his book: MOVE: The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.