G2’s Godard Abel on Overcoming the Crisis of Trust

An Introduction to Godard Abel

“A lot of us oversell and over-market... but the software buyer is dissatisfied and doesn't know who to believe. They don't know who to trust. So we see a crisis of trust in the world and our industry." - Godard Abel

Today's guest is Godard Abel.He is the Co-founder & CEO of G2.com, a software marketplace with authentic peer reviews to make purchasing software that much easier. With his vast experience as an executive heading up multiple high-performing companies (like SteelBrick and BigMachines - purchased by Salesforce and Oracle respectively), Godard offers valuable advice on what it means to be a stellar operator. In this episode, he sat down with Patrick Campbell at SaaStock 2022 and broke down a number of fundamental learnings.

High Level Overview

• Establish a strong company culture that fosters trust and collaboration.
• Leverage the power of partnerships to create synergies and generate value.
• Develop a performance-oriented mindset to ensure success.
• Utilize peer reviews and customer feedback to build trust with potential customers.
• Utilize data to make informed decisions and improve efficiency.

Adopting G2's P.E.A.K. Culture

Investing in your team and developing a strong company culture is one of the best ways to ensure your business is successful for years to come. You can follow the G2 method of P.E.A.K. Culture which stands for Performance, Entrepreneurship, Authenticity, Kindness.

Performance

• It’s important to have goals and objectives but tantamount to that all is to measure that progress. This can be done by creating a baseline of what you have currently, whether it’s tracking your MRR, CAC, or LTV or even the reach you see in your social campaigns. Additionally, no one better understands the buying process than your customers. Utilize customer feedback, reviews, and other buyer data to make informed decisions and improve efficiency.

Entrepreneurship

• Fostering a culture where operators can have ownership over certain facets of the business will pay dividends. Oftentimes, just doing what works isn’t going to move the needle. Empowering others who you work with to challenge the status-quo can result in game-changing results. Don’t get this confused with hustling your face off, however.Poor sleep patterns can negatively impact growth and satisfaction.

Authenticity

• I’m sure we all see ourselves as authentic to varying degrees. Authenticity in itself feels like a binary measure, but there’s always that one person who holds their cards close to their chest.Dan Martellmanaged to shift Patrick Campbell’s perception of authenticity after speaking with himon an earlier episode of Protect the Hustle. Vulnerability is strength. encouraging transparency and open communication can develop a healthy culture within any business.

Kindness

• It isn’t just about being nice and respectful to those you work with (although that’s a great place to start), creating partnerships with likeminded businesses is crucial to your own success. By practicing thegolden rulewhere you treat others how you want to be treated can lead to strong relationships with investors, peers, and your direct reports that will come back to help you in the end. You can’t expect the same measure of response, but it can, at the very least, put a warm feeling in someone else’s heart.

Further Learnings

You can learn more about Godard Abel by following him onLinkedInandTwitter.

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