BC Startup Sales Podcast – AE Metrics That Matter with Matt Bertuzzi (Bridge Group)

We were back in the studio again this week to discuss “AE Metrics That Matter” with our friend Matt Bertuzzi from The Bridge Group. Each year, The Bridge Group puts out a great survey of almost 300 companies focused on AE metrics that matter. The report is chock full of data and benchmarking. It is excellent for any founder, sales operations team, or revenue leader in helping understand things like quota, compensation, organizational design, specific AE metrics, and various sales leadership components. Matt joined us on the podcast to talk through the 7th edition of the report that came out this week. Give it a listen and download the report. A special thanks to Pete Kazanjy for the introduction to Matt!

Matt is responsible for crunching numbers, analyzing models, and architecting tech stacks. If you’ve ever heard a Bridge Group stat, you’ve encountered Matt’s work. He also leads internal revenue operations and keeps the home fire burning. Matt bleeds podcasts, books, and big ideas. He is never short an answer to the question, “Read or hear anything interesting lately?” As a former Marriott Front Desk Manager, Matt has the distinction of having been howled at by brides, Brown University parents, WWE wrestlers, and soccer/hockey/cheer parents. Years of abuse taught Matt that empathy and laser-like focus on buyers’ goals are paramount. Matt started his technology sales career with SDR and AE positions at Sophos, Certified Backup, and AmeriVault. Previously, Matt held a product marketing role at Venyu (now EATEL).

Matt and I started out the show talking through the general gist of the report and why you should care. The Bridge Group has put this report out a bunch so Matt talked a bit about how it expanded this year. In addition, he walked through some of the key changes for the 2020 edition and what they removed. We then walked through key highlights within the report and how to consider this as an individual contributor, manager, and executive. Matt talked a bit about the AE metrics that matter and some surprises from the report around compensation, leadership, and organizational design. We then dug in and focused on the five key areas of the report. First we talked about organizational structure and what is trending in terms of the AE <> SDR organization design as well as how marketing plays an ever increasing role in the sales function. Second, we talked about ramp and retention and how to think about experience of your reps in this context. Third, we ran through metrics and quota. This was the meat of the data and any AE or CEO should review this section to benchmark their own organization. Fourth, we talked about compensation and where the market is at today. It is a great time to be an AE! Fifth, we covered sales leadership and things like rep-to-manager ratios. We closed on some final thoughts and how the work has compared to prior years.

If you liked “AE Metrics That Matter” and want to read more content from the Bowery Capital Team, check out other relevant posts from the Bowery Capital Blog. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the podcast to get all our new content each week!