Mark’s Background

Mark Ebert is SVP of Revenue at Profound, the answer engine optimization platform helping brands win in the new world of AI search. Before Profound, Mark spent nearly nine years at 6sense, joining to build out the East Coast sales team. After an eventful day one, including one AE quitting and the remaining one begging him to stay, Mark went on to help build the company into the ABM category leader. Before 6sense, Mark sold and led enterprise teams at Responsys / Oracle Marketing Cloud during the marketing cloud wars against Salesforce and Adobe. He started his career as a BDR at Experian right out of college, after his dad’s sage advice that since he wasn't going to be a doctor or a banker, he should find a way to get into sales. Mark is based in Boston, a history buff with a soft spot for Revolutionary War battle planning, and probably the most relentlessly optimistic sales leader you'll meet.

Discussed In This Episode

Why enablement teams shouldn't actually be running enablement and who should instead when product ships daily

The two questions every new AE at an AI-native company should be obsessed with answering in week one

The "leave them alone on the sales floor" test for spotting a sales leader who's actually a doer vs. a dashboard leader

Why he'd rather hire the rep who crushed it at the #3 product company than the rep who hit 150% at the obvious category leader

What World War 2 battle planning teaches him about running a POC

The "see the movie before it plays" framework and how the best reps whiteboard the 3 most likely deal paths and pre-plan their counter-moves

Why the B2B sales funnel is collapsing inside of LLMs (and the data on what 80% of buyers do after they leave ChatGPT)

Marketing to your new "ultra customer": the LLM itself

The Jolt Effect: why most deals die from fear of screwing up, not fear of cost and how to surface that fear before the buyer does

AI tooling the team is leaning on right now (Dust, Granola) and how Mark uses an AI sales bot to grade his team's first calls overnight

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro, What Profound Is Building & Why Mark Joined

(02:14) From Experian BDR to Oracle Marketing Cloud: Why Mark Left for Sixth Sense

(07:36) Why Your Enablement Team Shouldn't Run Enablement

(13:38) The Two Questions Every New AE Should Obsess Over in Week One

(17:05) The Sales Leader Who Won't Sell Is a Liability: The "Leave Them on the Sales Floor" Test

(22:21) The 3-Path Whiteboard: How Great Reps See the Deal Before It Plays

(23:24) Confidence vs. Overconfidence: The Hire Mark Worries About

(27:09) What World War 2 Teaches Mark About Running B2B Evaluations

(29:36) Why Hiring from the #3 Product Beats Hiring from the Category Leader

(31:30) The Quota Attainment Question Most Hiring Leaders Read Wrong

(33:30) The B2B Funnel Is Collapsing Inside ChatGPT

(37:31) Marketing to Your New "Ultra Customer": The LLM Itself

(38:38) Rapid Fire: Staying Upbeat, Dust, Granola & The Jolt Effect

About The Vibescaling Podcast

The Vibescaling podcast interviews GTM leaders and investors at top AI startups and early-stage companies.

Every week, host Chris Balestras, partner @ Vibescaling (an advisory, recruiting, investing, & media firm for seed through series C AI-natives) sits down with GTM operators from the fastest-growing AI natives and SaaS companies to break down what's actually working in go-to-market today.

No fluff, no theory - just honest, tactical insights from people in the trenches building the next generation of AI breakouts.

About Vibescaling

Vibescaling is an advisory, recruiting, investing, & media firm for seed through series C AI-natives & fast-growing SaaS startups.

Where to Find Vibescaling

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vibescaling/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-rcm2qdgF22H2th_Khrlxg

Newsletter: https://www.vibescaling.blog/

Website: https://www.vibescaling.ai/

Supporting Progressive Doctors and Scientists for Public Office with Shaughnessy Naughton of 314 Action

The Great Battlefield

Future goals: engage scientists earlier

The AI-powered Podcast Player