Hunters and Unicorns

• Will AI Replace Sellers or Make Them Unstoppable?

  Jason Eubanks is back to answer the question every revenue leader is asking: Will AI kill sales jobs or make great sellers unstoppable? He drops hard stats (91% of B2B teams missed quota, top 25 % drive 80% of revenue at 11× productivity) and explains why AI is a superpower for elite performers, a wake-up call for the bottom quartile, and a complete game-changer for SDR outreach, buyer trust, and hiring. If you lead a sales org, this 35-minute conversation is required listening. 🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI The first AI-native GTM platform: https://aurasell.ai 🏹 Key Topics Covered 00:00 - Intro & Jason returns 01:38 - AI: replace or superpower? 03:07 - Top 25% dominate revenue 04:38 - 91% teams miss quota 09:40 - AI’s impact on SDRs 12:46 - Outreach volume vs buyer fatigue 16:52 - Human trust + real-time signals 25:14 - Hiring for the AI era 28:25 - Will AI make sellers lazy? 31:12 - Keeping top talent engaged   💥 3 Biggest Lessons: 1. AI Widens the Performance Gap Top 25 % already produce 11× more — AI will make them unstoppable while exposing under-performers. 2. Bottom Quartile Must Adapt Fast If you don’t aggressively adopt AI tools, you’ll fall further behind as others 2–4× their productivity. 3. Hire Character, Teach Skills Work ethic and engagement can’t be automated — get these right and AI turns good sellers into great ones. 💬 Notable Quotes “AI will be a superpower… it will unlock new levels of productivity that allow your top sellers to become even more productive.” “91 % of all B2B sales teams didn’t hit their revenue targets.” “80 % of the revenue was generated by only 25 % of the sellers.” “I don’t buy that AI makes sellers lazy — laziness exists for other reasons.” 🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please smash like/share and subscribe! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com X: http://x.com/HuntersUn1corns Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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• Meet our NEW Sponsor!

  In this episode, we talk to Jason Eubanks, CEO and Co-founder of Aurasell (our brand NEW Sponsor!), about his transition from a 20-year go-to-market operator to a builder and founder. Jason shares the exact moment he became obsessed with solving a major product problem, the complexity and low productivity caused by massive tool sprawl (over 20 products) and unintentional data silos in the go-to-market stack. He details the crucial steps of founding Aurasell: partnering with a complementary CTO, validating the huge market problem (estimating over $1 billion in services spend), and securing a significant seed round to build the world's first AI-native CRM platform focused on customer-problem-centric design. 🙌 Thanks To Our Sponsor! Aurasell AI: https://www.aurasell.ai 🏹 Key Topics Covered 01:36 - Founder Journey & Co-Founders 03:24 - From Operator to 3:15 a.m. Spark 05:00 - VC Detour & Market Gap 07:42 - Tool Sprawl & Unified AI Context 11:22 - Mapping the Problem to $30M Seed   💥 3 Biggest Lessons: The Spark of Product Obsession: Jason’s 20-year career as a CRO never led him to chase founding a company—until he woke up obsessing over a core product problem firsthand: the low productivity and operational cost caused by 20+ disconnected tools in the go-to-market stack. Tool Sprawl Handicaps AI: The reliance on 20+ legacy SaaS products unintentionally creates data silos where crucial contextual metadata lives, rather than the core CRM. When companies try to "sprinkle" AI on this brittle structure, they severely handicap the potential for high-quality automation. The Opportunity is in AI Native: To maximize productivity and solve the tool sprawl problem, the necessary solution is a single, AI-native platform built with a unified logic layer. This approach moves beyond small "AI tricks" to actionable automation that frees expensive sellers to attack the market. 💬 Notable Quotes "I don't wake up at 3 in the morning and obsess over product. And then one day I did wake up at 3:15 in the morning obsessing over a product problem." "I think it's important to make sure that your co-founding partners are complementary in skill set, like Minded and Alind on the problem." "On average, every dollar of software you spend, historically has carried with it $3 of services." "The problem... is that those sellers are being asked to interface with... the contextual awareness that allows us to use AI to automate with high quality outcomes, often that contextual awareness lives in the metadata."   🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter:   / huntersun1corns   Instagram:   / huntersandunicorns   Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog   SEO Tags: Jason Eubanks, Aurasell, AI Native CRM, Founder Journey, CRO to CEO, Tool Sprawl, Data Silos, Sales Productivity, GTM Platform, Seed Round, Co-founder, Venture Partner #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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• Beyond the Sales Playbook: The #1 Skill for Getting Ahead in Tech with Emma Maslen

  In this episode of the Great Leaders UK series, we welcome Emma Maslen, author, angel investor, and founder of inspir'em. Emma draws on her successful career in large organizations like SAP and BMC to discuss the crucial difference between theoretical playbooks and their real-world, behavioral application. She stresses that the playbook is a framework to drive curiosity and risk mitigation, not a tick-box exercise. Emma also shares why networking is a constant professional necessity, detailing the common mistakes people make and how leaders can intentionally build their networks to gain knowledge and accelerate their careers.   🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors! PGAI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai 🏹 Key Topics Covered 01:40 - What's inspir'em? 03:06 - It's about curiosity, not checklists 04:36 - The flaw of the "100% Med-Pic score" 06:50 - Why the playbook can't be a preach 11:09 - Leaders not present during sales training 12:05 - Verbalizing questions and intentionally 14:13 - Customizing the discovery process 16:48 - Discovery is a Two-Way Dating Process 18:05 - Career Shift from corporate MD 25:37 - The Power of Networking 30:50 - Good vs. Bad Networking 35:51 - Networking for internal success. 41:05 - The value of community 51:37 - The value of coaching   💥 3 Biggest Lessons: The Playbook is a Framework for Curiosity, Not a Checklist: When Meddic, Med-PICC, or any framework becomes a mere tick-box exercise, it becomes pointless. It should instead function as a tool to continuously drive curiosity, expose risks in your pipeline, and prompt deeper questions. Winning Requires Leadership Buy-In (Not Dictation): Sales training fails when executives and leaders see it as something "done to the sales team," often not even attending the training themselves. Successful adoption requires the playbook to be a dialogue driven by empathy and shared accountability. Networking is a Professional Must (Not Just a Job Hunt): Many people only realize they have a networking problem when they desperately need a new job or advice. Good networking is about proactive investment: focusing on who you can help, giving back to the network, and making small, specific asks to gain knowledge, not just taking.   💬 Notable Quotes "There are still a lot of organizations out there that think Meddpicc is something to be done to the sales team." "If it's become a tick box exercise, you might as well just get rid of it because it becomes pointless." "It should be a framework to drive curiosity." "People feel like networking is about finding another job rather than being better at your current job." "I once said to him, why are you mentoring me because I'm like here and you're here and he said, because you've got a whole different perspective." 🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns   Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter:   / huntersun1corns   Instagram:   / huntersandunicorns     Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog   #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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• Pre-Sales Masterclass: Earning Your Seat at the Elite Leadership Table with Julia Weimer

  In this episode of Great Leaders UK, we are joined by Julia Weimer, Director of Solution Engineering UKI at Wiz, to discuss the critical, often underutilized role of pre-sales in driving elite sales execution. Julia shares her unique journey from Security Analyst in a SOC to leading a high-performing SE team , emphasizing why Sales Engineers must be viewed as equal business partners to Account Executives, not just technical support. She walks us through the importance of symbiotic relationships , leveraging structure like MEDDIC , and the power of empowering SEs to build technical champions. 🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors! PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai 🏹 Key Topics Covered 02:40 - SE/AE Relationships that Lead to Failure 05:27 - The Ideal SE Profile 07:40 - SEs as Deal Realists 11:50 - Driving Cross-Functional Alignment 16:15 - Nurturing Talent: Teaching Sales Methodology 23:45 - From SOC to SE: The Biggest Career Risk 27:57 - Diversity in Tech 39:17 - Recruiting Priorities 41:23 - The Motherhood/Career Balance 42:18 - Hiring for Entrepreneurial Mindset in SEs   🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Kouttis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog   💥 3 Biggest Lessons: The SE Superpower is Reality: The sales engineer's superpower is the ability to look into the reality of an opportunity and be a realist about its progression. This means SEs must be empowered to act as the credible technical person and trusted advisor in the room. Structure the Sales Instincts: For many technically inclined SEs, the sales aspect is not natural. Leaders must provide structure (like teaching MEDDIC) and enablement to help SEs embrace sales methodology as a new skill set. Symbiosis Drives Success: Amazing things happen when sales and pre-sales embrace a symbiotic relationship and work together. This partnership ensures accountability where neither the AE nor the SE is left with an uneven workload, helping to avoid deals from falling "out of whack".   💬 Notable Quotes "Sales engineering should always be treated as an equal partner to sales." "It was probably the biggest career risk that I've ever taken." "The balance is what I seek, and if you can find people that are really great with their people's skills and relatable... and also really like to solve problems. It's a perfect blend of both." "If you give us that type of platform and that type of respect in an opportunity, then the world is our oyster." "I really find that the sales engineering role is this gem of a role for those of us who are a little bit introverted, we really like tech and our skill sets are with the tech." #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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• How to Launch an AI Security Startup, with Kristian Kamber

  In this episode of the Playbook Universe, we speak with Kristian Kamber, CEO and co-founder of SPLX AI, about his journey from elite sales roles at AppDynamics and ZScaler to launching his own AI security startup. Kristian shares the inner drive and lessons learned, from a family restaurant business to the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley playbooks, that prepared him to lead a fast-moving, deeply technical company. He reveals the critical steps in finding the right technical co-founder, securing investment, and achieving product-market fit by listening intently to customers. This is essential listening for any sales professional considering the leap into entrepreneurship. 🙌 Thanks to Our Sponsors! PG AI: https://www.getpg.ai Selr: https://selr.ai   🏹 Key Topics Covered 00:00 - Intro 02:17 - The Inner Motivation to Be a Founder 03:44 - The Hard Decision: Leaving a Sales Career 04:47 - The Co-Founder Hunt and Validation 06:07 - Using Sales Skills to Vet an Idea 08:55 - The Turning Point: Securing Initial Investment 11:46 - The CEO Upskilling Curve: Investor Relations 15:28 - Sales Mindset as a Competitive Advantage 17:01 - Product Pivot: Listening to the Customer 20:19 - SPLX AI's Funding and Growth Timeline 24:30 - Evolving the CEO Role: From Sales to Strategy 27:38 - Hiring A-Players for an Early-Stage Startup 30:00 - The Unconventional Sales Mindset in the US 38:05 - The Importance of Moving Fast in Your Career 40:40 - Building Champions Outside Your Geo 47:49 - The 90-Day Product Innovation Cycle 50:46 - Advice for Aspiring Founders   💥 3 Biggest Lessons: The Best Founder is the Best Salesperson: A founder must be the best salesperson in the company, constantly selling to customers, investors, partners, and potential hires. Sales experience provides a crucial competitive advantage in validating the product, building trust, and driving aggressive motion. Finding a Co-Founder is Non-Negotiable: A sales-focused founder must pair with a deeply technical co-founder to balance skills and gain investor confidence. Kristian used his sales network and deep discovery skills to rigorously vet his co-founder's technical genius and commitment to the idea. Master the Market, Not Just the Playbook: While sales playbooks are essential, true success in a fast-moving market like AI security requires listening to customers and being willing to pivot immediately. Kristian's team shifted their product focus after realizing the European market wasn't ready, proving that market adoption dictates the product roadmap.   💬 Notable Quotes "I'm super coachable when it comes to things I don't know, but I'm super strict about things I'm 100% I know how to do it." "I knew I need to find the right co-founder who knows how to build a tech so I can do with him the business because I know what I can't do." "You should thank God you made your co-founder. That was the turning point for me. I said, wow." "I knew I need to sell before I even have a product." "The biggest job of an early stage founder is getting term sheets. It's the biggest job."   🙌 Thanks for listening! This episode was hosted by Simon Koutis and Ollie Kuehne, founders of Hunters & Unicorns, and post-produced by the team at videoforce.pro. If you enjoyed this episode, please drop a like/share and subscribe to our channel! 🦄 Connect with Hunters & Unicorns Website: http://huntersandunicorns.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/HuntersUn1corns Instagram: http://instagram.com/huntersandunicorns Blog: http://huntersandunicorns.com/blog   #softwaresales #huntersandunicorns #playbookuniverse

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