Make It Snow: From Zero to Billions - by Denise Persson & Chris Degnan (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Follow along on the journey of the founding, development, and breakaway success of a multi-billion-dollar tech company

Snowflake CRO, Chris Degnan, and CMO, Denise Persson, have one of the longest executive sales and marketing relationships in history. They each built their teams from the ground up to help catapult Snowflake from a startup to one of the fastest-growing technology companies. Along the way, they evolved, innovated and executed as a single entity to deliver impact, while aligning with Snowflake's number one company value: put customers first. Learn how Chris and Denise united two historically divided teams in Corporate America to achieve long-lasting customer relationships and enduring company success.

This book covers Snowflake' sales and marketing evolution through three phases of the company: Startup, Build and Scale. Readers will learn:

• How and when to jumpstart your sales and marketing teams.
• How to develop product market fit and your competitive strategy.
• Why business partners are critical to sales success.
• The importance of establishing a culture early, and how.
• Why demand gen should be marketing's northern star.
• What success looks like when hiring, retaining and saying goodbye.
• Building for a billion: restructuring sales, scaling a data-driven marketing team.

This book targets startup founders and executives, venture capital partners and the boards of directors of early- and mid-stage technology startups. Sales and marketing are often neglected in these companies, with focus squarely placed on engineering and product teams that determine sales and marketing functions. There is a better way. Armed with the strategies and tactics contained in this book, senior stakeholders of startup companies can jump-start and align their sales and marketing go-to-market strategy sooner and with more impact.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR MAKE IT SNOW

"Chris and Denise represent the epitome of sales and marketing alignment: flawless coordination and execution. Denise was the air force, creating customer awareness and demand before Chris's team arrived to discuss customer needs and close deals."
--JOHN MCMAHON, 5-time CRO; Founding Snowflake Board Member

"Absolute alignment between sales and marketing is rare. Yet, everyone and everything suffers without it. Chris and Denise built a constantly evolving go-to-market machine that generates enormous mindshare and helps customers surpass even their own aspirations."
--FRANK SLOOTMAN, Former CEO of Snowflake, ServiceNow and Data Domain; National Bestselling Author of Amp It Up

"Make It Snow is a raw and real perspective on how GTM teams can be in perfect alignment, how to create and deliver on such a relationship, and what could happen to your company once you accomplish this. Snowflake would not be Snowflake without Denise and Chris."
--MIKE SPEISER, Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures; Founding Investor and Board Member of Snowflake

About the Author

DENISE PERSSON is a four-time chief marketing officer and has been Snowflake's CMO for nearly a decade. From the ground up, she built a team of 700 who own the sales pipeline and create global brand awareness for Snowflake.

CHRIS DEGNAN was Snowflake's first sales rep and spent more than 11 years as the company's Chief Revenue Officer. He grew Snowflake's annual revenue from zero to more than $3 billion, while expanding his organization to thousands of employees that span dozens of countries.