Grit

Guest: Eric Morse, SVP of Sales at Affirm, Inc.

In this episode, we cover: From $0 to $60 million in 18 months: How Eric's background studying physics and learning to program helped him sell the Google Cloud Platform in the early 2010s. (2:47) ... Technology and product-market fit: How Eric evaluates companies during a job search. (12:10) ... Why it takes Eric time to understand a company's technology upon being hired — and how he makes an immediate impact on how teams are structured and organized. (16:09) ... Building a collaborative and supportive sales environment. (19:57) ... Eric's current company, Affirm, and its role as a financial loan lender for consumers and as a marketing accelerator for merchants. (24:11) ... A tech company in finance: How Affirm calculates borrower risk during the underwriting process — and how the company assumes liability of the loans it lends. (29:36) ... Affirm loan vs. credit cards: How Eric believes Affirm can help people budget for goods and services in a transparent way. (33:42) ... 'The consumer has to be the center': How Affirm is keeping its responsibilities to the consumer as competition increases. (38:01) ... Affirm’s company culture of debate and discussion. (45:09) ... What the word grit means to Eric. (48:09)

Show Notes

Eric Morse is unabashedly a “super nerd.”

With a degree in physics from Duke University, Eric taught himself how to program and joined a consulting firm where he worked at implementing PeopleSoft, a human resource management system. Eventually, Eric found his way into sales — working at Google, NetSuite, and Ayden — until he eventually and most recently became SVP of Sales at Affirm, Inc. in 2018.

On this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Eric talk about Eric’s interest in technology, collaborative sales environments, and how Eric’s company Affirm is changing the way consumer loans work.

In this episode, we cover:
  • From $0 to $60 million in 18 months: How Eric's background studying physics and learning to program helped him sell the Google Cloud Platform in the early 2010s. (2:47)
  • Technology and product-market fit: How Eric evaluates companies during a job search. (12:10)
  • Why it takes Eric time to understand a company's technology upon being hired — and how he makes an immediate impact on how teams are structured and organized. (16:09)
  • Building a collaborative and supportive sales environment. (19:57)
  • Eric's current company, Affirm, and its role as a financial loan lender for consumers and as a marketing accelerator for merchants. (24:11)
  • A tech company in finance: How Affirm calculates borrower risk during the underwriting process — and how the company assumes liability of the loans it lends. (29:36)
  • Affirm loan vs. credit cards: How Eric believes Affirm can help people budget for goods and services in a transparent way. (33:42)
  • 'The consumer has to be the center': How Affirm is keeping its responsibilities to the consumer as competition increases. (38:01)
  • Affirm’s company culture of debate and discussion. (45:09)
  • What the word grit means to Eric. (48:09)

Links:

What is Grit?

Grit explores what it takes to create, build, and scale world-class organizations. It features weekly episodes highlighting the leaders who are pushing their companies to make a difference. This series is hosted by Joubin Mirzadegan, go to market operating partner at Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm investing in history-making founders.