Grit

Guest: Dan Shapero, Chief Business Officer of LinkedIn

Show Notes

Imagine taking a company like LinkedIn to a billion dollars in sales in just a few years, only to leave at the top of your game to rebuild your career and pursue a different path in product.


That’s exactly what Dan Shapero did — and in this episode of Go to Market Grit, he explains his perspective, along with some can’t-miss insight on business and leadership. Joubin and Dan discuss two key topics including the future of sales leadership and go to market leadership.


In this episode of Go to Market Grit, we cover: 
  • Dan’s career journey from his undergrad at Johns Hopkins University to chief business officer of LinkedIn. Dan also talks about his early difficult experiences working for startups, and the lessons that he learned.
  • How Dan landed a dream job working for LinkedIn, and took the company to $1 billion in revenue in roughly four years.
  • The defining moment that led Dan to change his career path and go into product development.
  • What it takes to be an effective salesperson, and an effective sales leader. 
  • Why the role of a salesperson is increasingly becoming a problem solver in partnership with the customer to help them move forward.
  • New dynamics that are occurring in sales today.
  • How selling is becoming more of a team sport than it was in the past.
  • The three pillars that sales leaders should always think about.
  • The number one skill that a leader should have, according to Dan.
  • Why an effective organization carries a lot of traits of its leader.
  • The concept of living life as a victim, versus living life as an active player — and why Dan chooses to live life in the player state.


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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.