Episode 129: Jonathan Vu – The Uncomfortable Comfort Zone
Sales can often appear to be a one man show; however, most salespeople will struggle to succeed without a strong support system surrounding them. In fact, Jonathan Vu wouldn’t have been able to thrive in sales had he not had the strong community at memoryBlue helping him through his challenging transition from marketing to sales.
In this episode of Tech Sales is for Hustlers, Jonathan, now a BDR at Clear, shares his initial discomfort with the sales environment, the power he has found in a collaborative and supportive company, and the way his introverted qualities have served as a valuable asset in sales.
Guest-At-A-Glance
💡 Name: Jonathan Vu
💡What he does: BDR
💡Company: Clear
💡Noteworthy: A former memoryBlue salesperson, Jonathan navigated a challenging career transition from marketing to sales.
💡 Where to find Jonathan: LinkedIn
Key Insights
Embracing Discomfort in Sales
Jonathan shares his initial discomfort with the sales environment, particularly due to his introverted nature. He highlights the challenges of learning to write emails, crafting messages, and making cold calls. However, Jonathan credits the supportive culture at memoryBlue for helping him navigate these hurdles. He emphasizes that anyone can succeed in sales with the right mindset, willingness to learn, and ability to overcome personal barriers.
The Power of Community in Sales
Jonathan discusses the importance of a supportive community in a sales environment. He notes that immediate support from colleagues during difficult calls or challenging situations was instrumental in his growth as a salesperson. This insight underscores the value of a collaborative and supportive work environment in sales, which can help individuals navigate the inherent challenges of the role.
The Role of Introversion in Sales
Contrary to common stereotypes, Jonathan argues that introverted qualities can enhance one’s success in sales. Further, he suggests that skills such as listening and observing can be as valuable as extroverted traits in the sales process. This insight challenges traditional perceptions of the ideal salesperson and highlights the potential of diverse personality types in the field.
Episode Highlights
The Transition to Sales
Jonathan discusses his transition from marketing to sales, a decision motivated by his desire to challenge himself. He emphasizes the importance of embracing discomfort and failure in one’s twenties as a means of personal and professional growth.
“This is the time to fail. This is the time to try new things. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Following that narrative, I thought, well, I like the idea of presenting ideas and helping others. That’s why I liked marketing, but the other side of that coin was always gonna be sales.”
The Role of Sales in Business Development
Jonathan shares his perspective on the integral role of sales in business development. He believes that understanding sales operations is crucial to comprehend the overall business development within a company.
“I think if I really wanted to challenge myself and I really wanted to understand the full operations of business development within the company, I should definitely go into sales and push myself.”
The Experience of Moving to New York
Jonathan recounts his experience of moving to New York to work for Clear and conquer the East Coast territory. He shares his initial apprehensions and the unique opportunities the city offers him.
“I couldn’t have thought of a better opportunity to move out here and, again, challenge myself. You know, no territory in, or very little territory on the East Coast, was conquered. And I was like, well, this is my chance to start running with the bulls and fighting the good fight on the East Coast.”
The Impact of Office Environment on Sales
Jonathan discusses the impact of the office environment on sales performance. He compares his experiences of working in an office every day at memoryBlue, working from home at DataVisor, and his current role at Clear.
“The office environment is a huge benefit, especially in a job like sales. So when we started at memoryBlue, we were in the office every day, I think, which was great, especially when we were learning the job and as difficult as it was, just seeking support from people around you in an instant. It’s a little bit different when you Slack someone or message them versus them hearing in and being like, ‘Hey, I heard that call, and I know it wasn’t great. So having that support immediately, I think, is monumental.”
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Jonathan Vu: once I learned how to do the sales job and I came around and I, I started talking a lot more to my peers about it and I was like, you guys should seriously consider sales. Yeah. A lot of them had the same stigma. It’s like, no, no, I’m not. I can’t talk, I’d get cold feet and yada yada yada, and I’m like, No. Well, I was like that too. And you know me, I’m a little bit more introverted.
[00:00:18] I can hold my own conversations, but for the most part, I like listening and I like observing, but I was definitely more of an advocate that, anyone could definitely do this.
[00:00:48] Marc Gonyea: Jonathan Vu in the house, Corcoran, the California kid meeting with us in Manhattan,
[00:00:54] Jonathan Vu: coast to coast.
[00:00:54] Chris Corcoran: Yeah, coast
[00:00:55] Marc Gonyea: to coast. Thanks for joining us today. Yeah, thank you.
[00:00:59] Jonathan Vu: How you doing? I’m doing well. Yeah. It’s a great day today in New York. From podcast
[00:01:04] Chris Corcoran: listener to podcast guest,
[00:01:06] Jonathan Vu: I know we’ve come full circle.
[00:01:08] Jonathan
[00:01:08] Marc Gonyea: Vu. I mean, Jonathan’s only a year out. momoryBlue Well, a year, three months, four months out from memoryBlue.
[00:01:15] Jonathan Vu: Yeah. It’s about a year and a half. so you, you’re
[00:01:17] Marc Gonyea: gonna be a special guest for us because we usually get people on who’ve been longer, but we say, you know what, Jonathan, who’s in New York?
[00:01:24] Yep. Let’s get ’em on. And great story. It’s great story. And the experience you’ve gone through since you got outta school is more unique and you’re much closer to it, so you’re gonna offer a fresher perspective. Absolutely. That’s what I’m here for. Yeah. So let’s get started with it. So did familiarize the audience and Chris, myself, right?
[00:01:39] Mm-hmm. With you. Tell us a little bit about where you grew up, what you like as a kid, what, what you thought you wanted to be when you were growing
[00:01:47] Jonathan Vu: up. Yeah, definitely. well I grew up in San Jose, California. You know, that’s where I ended up, uh, I guess getting my feet wet. Yep. With sales. And I went to college in Cal Poly Sloan.
[00:01:58] So what, what kind of kid were you growing up? What type of kid was I growing up? I mean, uh, I would say I was, I was a competitor. I mean, I loved playing video games. Yep. But I also, I loved playing sports, you know, so anything playing board games, anything involving, teams and strategy and then getting my feet wet with, you know, out playing or out strategizing someone was, was where I was at.
[00:02:21] So, as a kid, siblings, I definitely spelled, yeah, I have an older brother. He is, he’s a year and. Seven months older than I am. Okay. So we had a very, very good rivalry as kids. Very competitive rivalry, and we always competed, especially in sports. Okay. Um,I think I learned a lot from him since I was the younger brother, and because of that I was a lot better, I think, than my, my peers and my counterparts When you benefited sports, right?
[00:02:44] Yeah, because I was always playing with him and he was pushing me around. Yeah. But you know, in the end it’s, it’s, I look back and I think it’s a good time. So you’re better
[00:02:51] Marc Gonyea: than your brother is in sports. Well,
[00:02:53] Jonathan Vu: you can tell him. Yeah, if he listens to this, he’s a be, he’s definitely a better volleyball player.
[00:02:58] That’s what he, you know, sinks his teeth into Okay. Every time, every chance he gets. But, uh, every other spill, you’ll, you’ll probably have to go through me first to, to see.
[00:03:08] Marc Gonyea: Love it if, all right. So you, you have a competition going on. What did you think you were gonna do when you’re just gonna say when you’re in high
[00:03:14] Jonathan Vu: school?
[00:03:15] Yeah, in high school is actually when I, I definitely wanted to start going into marketing, I think, actually. Okay. Yeah. Which is, uh, originally when I did what I wanted to do prior into going sales, I worked, or I didn’t work, but I, I was part of ASB and like the student council there. And so what we did a lot was host these events for the school, you know, spirit events, sporting events, and, You know, putting on those, campaigns and, and just helping out the school was something I, I really thought I was good at.
[00:03:43] You know, I liked collaborating and working with a team to kind of help achieve those goals and just produce that for the community. And I figured like, well, if this is, you know, now that I’m looking at college and applying to things, I think this is exactly what I wanted to do. I loved the idea of like taking an idea and, spraying it to other people, especially if it was something they needed or, or enjoyed a lot.
[00:04:02] And so that’s kind of where it all
[00:04:03] Marc Gonyea: started. In your household? Like parents? Yeah. Anybody in sales?
[00:04:09] Jonathan Vu: Yeah. Both of my parents are actually in sales, so mm-hmm. My mom is, currently a senior director of SDRs, the Bells and BDRs. Mrs. Vu? Yeah. Mrs. Vu. Very awesome. And my dad is also a customer success manager.
[00:04:21] Okay. So he works on the back ends to help support sales teams but, but that
[00:04:26] Marc Gonyea: sales not marketing. Right? So how did Exactly, so, But the sales thing, was it pushed or was it in. I was curious. No, no. My,
[00:04:35] Jonathan Vu: my parents didn’t push any agenda onto me. Okay. But I definitely was, I think, more aware of sales, what the sales pipeline was and just what the sales agenda was more than most people, because I had my parents who always told us, what it was like, what they were doing at work and, and kind of what they were involving themselves into.
[00:04:52] So I had that. I always had that in the back of my mind. but like I said, you know, I wanted to do marketing first. Mm-hmm. But I think eventually after college, you know, something compelled me to try to put myself into more of an uncomfortable position. You know, I like the idea of, of marketing, but in the same way, sales was the other side of that coin where, we’re reaching out to people to see if we can help them and provide them with something they might, you know, need or love.
[00:05:16] and so I wanted to take them more challenging road, which is how I ended up getting into sales. I talked with my parents about it and. You know, they only, they only had encouraging words because they were experts in the field themselves. But, I think that’s kind of how the story came to be after college, I ended up wanting to go into sales.
[00:05:33] Marc Gonyea: Okay. Got it. And how did memoryBlue kind of happen? Well, so what’d you major in undergrad?
[00:05:40] Jonathan Vu: I studied, uh, business administration with an emphasis in information system. Got it. So originally I wanna do, Like data analytics and marketing operations.
[00:05:48] Marc Gonyea: Okay. Yeah. Got it. And then you had an internship
[00:05:49] Jonathan Vu: too, right?
[00:05:50] Yeah, so I worked for a company called Gigamon, which is where I was a digital marketing intern. Um, and so I helped them with kind of what I was envisioning myself doing with which was just, a Salesforce manager and helping support the team by, you know, either creating and, and, changing dashboards and reports, et cetera.
[00:06:08] And I also worked a lot in Excel and using sql, Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics to just kind of power, information coming in and customizing it so we can help support the team, you know, and so that experience tied in with my experience of what I was learning in school, which is information systems and, and database management.
[00:06:27] I wanted to. I used both of my experiences to go into either marketing or sales operations, so I can be more of a support role for teams on the front line, like sales teams or the marketing teams. That’s great.
[00:06:39] Marc Gonyea: Yeah, it’s like a much more nuanced view of how to use your major than I had coming outta school.
[00:06:44] Did growing up in the valley, like, form your perception of tech, like do you feel like, do you ever take that for granted or do you not take it for granted? Like do you think you have a different view? On technology, just that, just how you kind of, you kind of grew, you grew up in the
[00:06:59] Jonathan Vu: epicenter. Yeah, I mean I think, I think for the most part I always understood that tech was going to be the future.
[00:07:06] I mean, it was, you know, it was so much a part of my livelihood, living and growing up in Silicon Valley. But I think I always knew that, tech was, was here to stay. And if there was a field that I knew was gonna be relevant to me just in everyday life, but also professionally, You know, tech was gonna be the future.
[00:07:22] Got it. Which is, I think if anything of the perspective I, I always had growing up. It is. Yeah. So I’m
[00:07:28] Chris Corcoran: very curious cuz So, so you, you, you get exposed to this growing up around the Vu family dinner table mm-hmm. Technology, sales, customer success. You’ve got passions for marketing, sales ops. You have a great internship at a great company.
[00:07:42] Doing data analytics, sales ops. Mm-hmm. Right. I would think that coming outta school, the world is your oyster and you can have what it really, not any job you want, but you could have kind of a bunch of different opportunities to choose from in terms of making, whether it be marketing or sales ops. How do you end up in sales?
[00:07:59] Kind of the, probably the. Maybe the least glamorous
[00:08:02] Jonathan Vu: and the hardest. Yeah. I mean, really it was just, you know, kind of like I, I alluded to was just after college, I think there was a really just a shift in mindset. Mm-hmm. you know, before I talk about sales, it was really just, I think graduating college and, and talking to my peers who were older and mm-hmm.
[00:08:19] People who already had their life ahead of them were, was really a lot of the narrative was just around, You want to now, in your twenties, while you’re still young, you wanna challenge yourself in any ways you know any way possible, right? This is the time to fail. This is the time to try new things.
[00:08:34] Get uncomfortable with being, or get comfortable with being uncomfortable, right? Yeah. following that narrative, I thought, well, I like the idea of presenting ideas and helping others, right? That’s why I liked marketing, but. Like I said, the other side of that coin was always gonna be sales. And so between the two, what I, what I thought since I had already had experience in marketing and data analytics, I was like, well, I think if I really wanted to challenge myself and I really wanted to understand like the full operations of business development within the company, like I should definitely go into sales and push myself.
[00:09:08] And I knew I’d had. You know, the resources for my parents to always help me along the way too. But sales was something I’d never done before. you know, the closest I think I’d gotten to selling as a kid was when I was in Boy Scouts we used to stand in front of supermarkets and sell Yeah. Boy Scout popcorn.
[00:09:24] And it was a lot harder cuz we’re not the Girl Scouts. You know, the cookie, the cookie business sells itself. Right. But it’s so true.
[00:09:30] Marc Gonyea: Right. The Boy Scouts
[00:09:30] Jonathan Vu: got stuck. Boy Scouts, you walk up and they’re like, you guys sell popcorn. That’s great. You know, I don’t think I’ll take anybody here’s a donation.
[00:09:36] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. And the problem is that that popcorn’s so damn expensive.
[00:09:39] Yeah. About a lot of it that I’m like, well, these cookies are overpriced, but the cookies are cookies. Right. You’ll, you’ll, you’ll do it. But the Boy Scout popcorn, I’m like, you guys got the popcorn, and it’s like ridiculously priced over. Yeah, yeah. Anyways, but I support the Boy Scouts. Yeah. Thank you.
[00:09:52] Appreciate that. Let’s talk about this, the, so getting into sales and making yourself uncomfortable, right? Mm-hmm. What was that like? Cause because, and I, and I wanna give a shout out to you. And,you know, memoryBlue, our philosophies will give peoples a shot, right? We give, we give people chances. Not anybody, not anybody, but not anybody.
[00:10:13] But like, I think more for the, not a lot of our top performers are people that a lot of our clients would not even interview. Mm-hmm. Doesn’t mean we’re passing out things that bust off for people to come work here. Mm-hmm. And we’ve had lots of clients, but it’s hard, it’s harder working for us than it is.
[00:10:30] I think it’s no disrespecting intended to going to work at Gartner or Oracle or one of these other companies. And we’ve had lots of clients through the years who would not have recommended, you know, your mom as a client. Mm-hmm. And they’re like, man, it’s kind of hard working at memoryBlue, but you did it.
[00:10:44] So I gotta give a shout out to you cuz you definitely took the, the harder gig and many clients have, Not even sent there Sutter daughter over to me for an interview, which is okay. What was it like, because it’s not easy to roll in in, cause you said it yourself. You only had sales experience selling the popcorn.
[00:11:00] Jonathan Vu: Yeah, I mean, I think it was definitely, you know, coming in at least, it was definitely very nerve wracking. kind of like I, or whether I mentioned it or not. But, you know, in college I was a little bit more introverted and I always knew there was this kind of stigma around salespeople that they’re, they get, they’re agreeable and amiable, but also very extroverted.
[00:11:19] You gotta be comfortable talking and, and sticky, yeah. Sticky bullshit artist. Yeah. Et cetera. Mm-hmm. So, coming in, I was like, okay, I have to. You know, for myself into becoming this type of person if I wanted it to do sales. And so it was really nerve wracking at the start, just coming in. But I think the environment that you guys created just with the culture around the teams and supporting failure for one another definitely helped me, just take a deep breath a little bit while I was going through the job.
[00:11:46] But, that’s not to say that the job was still very difficult learning at up upfront. Right. It’s hard, you know, especially I think, you know, learning how to write emails and, and messaging and template is, is one matter, right? It’s a little bit more like marketing in that sense, but going through and doing customer calls and, and learning how to cold call, I think was the biggest hurdle I had to face.
[00:12:07] I mean, just, you know, talking to people is one thing, but when you’re doing it for a person or knowing that you’re, you might be a nuisance to someone, is, it’s a completely different shift in mindset. and I think. You know, it’s not something that you really understand until you’re, until you’re doing it over and over again every day for the next, you know, three to six months.
[00:12:27] Right? Yeah. But, you know, I would say with that, you know, as, as nerve wracking as it was, and I remember the first, Dial I made too. Really? The person picked up and I was like thrown into the script, and I had to, I had to do the whole dialogue. Thankfully, she was really nice, but it was just like, I felt like all my worst nightmares were coming true in the moment.
[00:12:45] I was like, oh man, I’m nervous. You could probably hear my voice shaking and yeah. Et cetera.
[00:12:49] Chris Corcoran: This sounds remarkably similar to Mark’s first call he called, really? and the, the prospect picked up, and you know what Mark did?
[00:12:57] Jonathan Vu: What? Hung up. He hung
[00:12:58] Marc Gonyea: up. Hung up. I was so nervous. Yeah. I was like, I called and the person actually picked up Jonathan.
[00:13:03] He said, hello? I said, this is for people who can’t see this. This is me with the phone up to my head. Just slowly put the Get away.
[00:13:13] Jonathan Vu: Well, it’s, it’s, it’s nerve wracking, but it’s nerve-wracking. You know, surprisingly, I, I got through the call. I mean, we didn’t end up, you know, booking a meeting or anything, but, it was actually because my manager at the time, Alex Ryan, Shout.
[00:13:24] Oh yeah, shout Alex. She was right behind me and she was, she was kind of helping, holding my, not holding my hand actually, but just, yeah, mentally helping me through the call and saying like, okay, you know, the script’s right there. Like, just do your bath, take, take a deep breath and go through it.
[00:13:37] And so she helped me a lot through it and, like I said, you know, the environment that you guys created of just having support, but also, you know, celebrating the failures. Yeah. That, that sort of experience in the moment wasn’t just that day. Even though it was my first day, it, existed that throughout my entire time with memoryBlue.
[00:13:53] Yeah. You know, and so, thankfully, As difficult as, as it was, it was because of the community guys you created that I was able to continue learning, to develop my skills and eventually overcome my fear of, you know, cold calling and
[00:14:06] Marc Gonyea: ing. Yeah. Yeah. it’s a scary thing to do. There’s no doubt about it.
[00:14:09] What did you get good at at memoryBlue everybody gets, has a little superpower on the phone. Like, what, what was your superpower? What were you like, you know what? This is something I’m good at when I’m on the phone.
[00:14:19] Jonathan Vu: Oh, I think I had a really good understanding of, of timing of. either when to push or when to kind of pull back from a okay, from a prospect, right?
[00:14:27] So you guys did a great job of, you know, teaching, you know what to say, and certain objective objections handling. But I think, you know, understanding the flow of the conversation and reading a prospect was something I, I started to get to know really well, just knowing like, okay, you know, he’s telling me things, but he’s not really receiving it.
[00:14:45] He, he, he’s got his hand on his computer and it’s kind of looking at something else. So maybe he’s not the best person I should be calling, or maybe not the best person to be pushing. But, or once I started learning how to dig a little bit deeper and, and ask the right questions. Mm. Really flip the switch on.
[00:15:00] Okay. This person I think has a knee, but I don’t think he realizes it yet. And so I need to start pushing right now.
[00:15:06] Marc Gonyea: Right. It’s interesting cuz you were kind of talking earlier, your natural inclination is to be more introverted, right? Well, the introverts are like, my son is one of those, they’re very perceptive.
[00:15:15] Mm-hmm. Right. They’re observing things, they’re taking it all in, they’re processing it. The extrovert’s like not even paying attention what’s going on. Yeah. And like and that’s where like people think you have to be an extrover, like you said earlier, going to sales. So for folks who might be listening, you don’t have to be an extrovert.
[00:15:29] Oh yeah. You have to learn certain skills, but certain skills that make you an introvert make you more successful as a salesperson. Then certain and certain may hurt. You see anything with the extroverts?
[00:15:38] Jonathan Vu: Yeah. Mean, once I learned how to do the sales job and I came around and I, I started talking a lot more to my peers about it and Yeah.
[00:15:44] since we were right out of college to, a lot of people were looking for jobs, I was like, you guys should seriously consider sales. Yeah. A lot of them had the same stigma. It’s like, no, no, I’m not. I can’t talk, you know, I, I’d get cold feet and yada yada yada, and I’m like, No. Well, I was like that too. And you know me, I’m a little bit more introverted.
[00:16:01] I can hold my own conversations, but for the most part, I’m, I like listening and I like observing, but I was definitely more of an advocate that, anyone could definitely do this. It’s just a matter of, getting over the hurdles of, you being confident in yourself and your voice. And, as long as you’re agreeable and as long as you can talk to someone and, Not be, uh, mean about it.
[00:16:22] I think, yeah, this is definitely a job that’s applicable to people as long as you’re willing to do it. Yeah. As long as you’re willing to print in the work and Yes. And understand the nuances and the difficulties of the job. it’s definitely the rewards are, plentiful and yes, I think you reap a lot of them throughout the way.
[00:16:38] Marc Gonyea: who else in your cohort, who else was good? You know, so you sound like you were good at figuring out when to push, when to pull. Wouldn’t the maybe bail? Wouldn’t the not bail push a little bit more? What are other, who colleagues from memoryBlue. Were you like, man, that person’s pretty good at this or that,
[00:16:54] Jonathan Vu: or, yeah.
[00:16:55] I mean, Oh gosh. I feel like my team was, full of studs. I know, I think she’s still there, but I know Kiana. Oh yeah.
[00:17:04] Marc Gonyea: Yes. Yeah, she
[00:17:05] Jonathan Vu: was, she was a stud on the team. I mean, I know, every day in the office was consistently, I think finding new ways to, meetings, which I thought was really unique.
[00:17:14] I know, like, the whole idea for our team to start reaching out to people. Just through LinkedIn in a specific manner came from her. Okay. You know, so it’s not, it’s not exactly emails, it’s not exactly over the phone or what you’re saying, but it was just finding a new transformative way to to kind of reach out to people when she did it in a really specific way, I think she attacked people through a cadence and Yep.
[00:17:36] And, you know, had specific messaging to convey, a certain type of, emotion when a reader was reading it. So I thought she was great at Yeah. Doing that. Yeah.
[00:17:45] You
[00:17:45] Marc Gonyea: talk like
[00:17:45] Jonathan Vu: a
[00:17:45] Marc Gonyea: marketer too. Good. Right. Conveying a motion in an email. So tell us a little bit about your client.
[00:18:46] Jonathan Vu: Yeah, definitely. So when I got hired out, I got, assigned to work with a company callDataVisor. Mm-hmm. So they’re a fraudaud solutions company in the Bay Area, where their whole, ideology was using machine learning to kind of take the next step in fraud technology, by helping automate certain solutions, but also providing.
[00:19:05] a full suite platform to, you know, do all your things related to fraud, right? Whether it was ingesting data or understating data or, creating, rules or making decisions based off that data, right? So it was kind of a, a full stack platform for fraud. So it was really cool. the client I think was really great for me.
[00:19:24] just in terms of, You know, where I was as a professional, in my career development, but also just in my stage of being a salesperson, and developing myself in that way. and the reason I say that is because they were, not an organization that had all a full suite team. Okay. so my partner, Matt Hudak and I, we were hired out at the same time.
[00:19:46] Yeah. Matt.
[00:19:47] Marc Gonyea: Matt was
[00:19:48] Jonathan Vu: an with you. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, he was a killer too. Um, memoryBlue. But we ended up coming in and I think we helped set a lot of the seeds for the company because they didn’t have an SDR team at the time too. And so our job was, it was, very thorough I think, and just we had to.
[00:20:05] be part of sales enablement and create our own cadences and, and work through Salesforce in that aspect. But we’re also the SCRs. We also worked a lot with the AEs to work on campaigns and, to create, create a lot of the pipeline that I think is flowing today. And so I think, going back to the original point, I think.
[00:20:23] DataVisor was, was great for a starting point because now everything I’d learned from, from memoryBlue, I, I was, being asked to do it in a fully applicable way, right? Like, how do we build pipeline in the east coast, right? How are we gonna get our brand out there and what are we gonna do? What steps are we gonna do and what’s the smartest way to do it, possible.
[00:20:44] And so it was really just a playground for us too, because there wasn’t a lot of existing structure at the time. And so the world was our playground to just try new things, see what worked. And I think, you know, we were, we were definitely a part of the catalyst that that helps drive a lot of the pipeline, I think there too.
[00:21:01] So, you know, I loved working at DataVisor. Absolutely. Sure. And, and it’s definitely, you know, I think going back to reaping, you know, rewards and and whatnot. I was very fortunate to be assigned to help that that company grow. You were
[00:21:15] Marc Gonyea: fortunate about Chris. What do you like to say about that? People who feel like they’re fortunate.
[00:21:18] They were on an account
[00:21:20] Chris Corcoran: there. We hire lots of people and lots of people capitalize on the opportunity. So you were the one who were able to see the opportunity for what it was. Add value, show what you were capable of, impress your client and seize the opportunity, or most people
[00:21:37] Marc Gonyea: don’t. Right. The clients, they have to pay us a fee.
[00:21:40] It’s a modest fee for hiring you. Mm-hmm. But they’re not doing it out of obligation. Right. They do it because they have confidence in your ability to execute and they see something in you, but,
[00:21:49] Jonathan Vu: you know. Right. Yeah. Well, I think definitely the other part of it was just the team internally.
[00:21:54] Definitely believed in us a lot and they definitely gave us the tools and, and support that we needed to enable us to, to kind of go about what we needed to do and take the extra step of taking initiative so that we can drive, drive pipeline, and drive revenue, for the company.
[00:22:09] Marc Gonyea: So you. You were California kid with the school.
[00:22:13] Mm-hmm. Is it how always say it? SLO. SLO. Yeah. Cal Poly SLO. Cal Poly SLO. I’ve never been there but Chris says it’s beautiful.
[00:22:18] Jonathan Vu: San Luis Obispo. Yeah. I think in, uh, the flower house 2018 or 2019, I forget. But they were named the happiest city in America. There you go.
[00:22:27] Marc Gonyea: So lot of history there. Mm-hmm. I believe it.
[00:22:29] So you worked for us in our San Jose office, right. And then got converted by your client. Mm-hmm. And then you made a move. Yeah. Recently. Yeah. You’re out here in Manhattan, New York. Yeah. Now I live in New York. I just talk about that.
[00:22:44] Jonathan Vu: it’s a big deal. Yeah. Well, I mean, this dates all the way back to, you know, college.
[00:22:49] I, a couple of my best friends and I, we always talked about moving to New York together just because, you know, in the same mindset of trying something new and, you know, putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. I’d only ever been, I’d been in my California in my entire life, you know? Mm-hmm. I get California, I get so CalNor NorCal, et cetera, and so I was like, well, what’s on the other side of the coast?
[00:23:08] I knew. DC was a another place I was actually considering moving as well, but I was drawn to New York, because, the discussions we had altogether, I think we wanted to move out there, but, What was really great too was actually DataVisor helps, kind of make that move for me actually, because after I got hired out, you know, one of the things we talked about was just, you know, we we’re looking to expand the team and we’re looking to expand nationally.
[00:23:33] Uh, And we were looking to have people in the East coast and I kind of mentioned to them like, oh yeah, I think wanna move into DC or New York eventually. And they were like, well, why don’t you do it for us? You know, like, we’ll help you move. Like you can work the New England territory. It’s been, it’s like an open field over here because a lot of our customer base at the time was in the West Coast and I, I couldn’t have thought of a better opportunity to kind of move out here and, and again, challenge myself.
[00:23:58] Right? Sure. You know, no territory in, or very little territory in the east coast was conquered. And I was like, well, this is my chance to, to kind of, start running, running with the bulls and, and, fighting the good fight in the East coast. So that’s kind of how New York came to be.
[00:24:12] But, you know, I’ve been here, I’m coming up on my year Mark, up in June. And I’ve just loved the city overall. it’s definitely a city unlike any others. You know, I think a lot of the, the stories and narratives you hear about New York, are very true. But I think if you find your niche and, and find the unique things about the city, there’s just so much to love about it.
[00:24:32] So I’ve been having a great time here so far.
[00:24:35] Chris Corcoran: what’s the biggest misconception people have about New York City?
[00:24:38] Jonathan Vu: The biggest misconception, I’m not sure. I mean, I feel like, I think neighborhoods might get, not the greatest rep as it might actually seem. and the reason I say this is cuz right now I live in South Harlem and I know coming in Harlem is generally, not regarded as one of the nicer neighborhoods.
[00:24:57] But living there now, it’s actually, it’s probably one of my favorite places to be in the city. Cause I think the area is just rich with, culture and the people that are extremely lively. Well, I think it’s, it’s unique that I don’t really see a lot out of a lot of the other neighborhoods. And, you know, I kind of discovered this just walking around the area, like on Sundays, the restaurants, they block off the streets and they bring tables out and massive speakers and, and they just play music.
[00:25:24] And people are out there enjoying food at the restaurant, but they’re also dancing and, and just enjoying a good time. And it’s not really something I anticipated, you know, coming to New York, I always knew there were great speakeasies and I knew there was cute restaurants to go to. But having walking around and seeing.
[00:25:39] Experiences like that. And even sitting down in a restaurant like that and seeing that I thought was really unique. so if there’s one thing I’ve observed so far and I’m, I’m definitely still learning a lot, is that I think, certain neighborhoods might not be as bad or as good as, as they might seem.
[00:25:54] So it’s one thing I would love to live here.
[00:25:56] Marc Gonyea: It’d be awesome. Well, when I was younger now, now I’m glad you’re taking advantage of it. working. From your office, or excuse me, in an office, memoryBlue, you came into the office every day. Mm-hmm. DataVisor, you work outta your house and where you work now.
[00:26:09] Yeah. You’re clear. I don’t know if you were, so talk about the, the differences in those two.
[00:26:13] Jonathan Vu: Oh yeah, the pros and the cons. The office environment, I think. Is, a huge benefit, especially, especially in a, in a job like sales. So yeah, when we started at memoryBlue, we were in office every day, I think, which was great, especially when we were learning the job and as difficult as it was, just seeking support from people around you in an instant.
[00:26:32] Mm-hmm. It’s a little bit different when you slack someone or message them. Yeah. And you’re like, yeah, I had a really bad call. Versus Yeah. Them hearing in them being like, Hey, You know, I heard that call and I know it wasn’t great, you know, so having that support immediately I think is monumental.
[00:26:46] Yep. So, goes back to kind of the community aspect. I think you guys did a great job of developing, moving to DataVisor. Yeah. I worked at, so we were, it was a little bit of a hybrid job when I got hired out. I think we were two days in office and then, part-time at home, which I got Okay. That’s pretty good.
[00:27:03] It was definitely doable. Cause I think, sales in general is, at least for an SDR, is a very autonomous role. You know, you prospect, you do research on company, you do research on people, and then you, you can call them and reach out to them, right? So there’s not necessarily a need to be in person, when you’re looking objectively at the job.
[00:27:20] and so when that came to be with DataVisor, I think I was. Very grateful to have, you know, to be able to go into office and interact with the team. But then I also appreciated the time I had to, you know, do what I wanted at home, but still get the job done right. So definitely a, a change in pace. I think it was a nice change in pace too.
[00:27:38] once I moved to New York in, in February. I was definitely fully remote at the time. Yep. Cause we didn’t have any office out here. and so I think it was, like I said, you know, the autonomy was really nice. You know, I enjoyed working at home and or even going to the park and then working.
[00:27:53] Right. Especially during the nice weather. I think, you know, after a certain point it, it. Certain days might drag on, not drag on, but just get to you a little bit more because, the support’s not as there as much. Right. Yeah. Because I’m now, I’m having bad calls up at home and I’m by myself and now I’m, I’m, you know Yeah.
[00:28:12] Getting upset or whatever. Yep. Right. And so it’s a little bit of a change of pace, um, that I think started to wear me down a little bit when it came to sales. But now, you know, just month ago, I, I joined Clear and Okay. We’re in office three times a day. Oh, okay. Good. So times a week at home.
[00:28:27] Yeah. Or sorry, three times a week. That’s good’s. Good balance. Yeah, I think it’s, a really great balance. But now when I’m, reaching out to people or just to have exciting news, especially since I’m learning just, do at the company in general, it’s really great to be back in person again.
[00:28:41] to talk with my team and just get personal interactions that you wouldn’t get really online. So, I think from the few experiences I’ve had, I’ve definitely enjoyed going into the office to, to create those relationships and have that support. Yeah. It’s
[00:28:57] Chris Corcoran: important. When, when you were at DataVisor headquartered headquartered Silicon Valley, right?
[00:29:00] Yeah. Mountain View. Yeah. In Mountain View. And then did you rely on sales engineers to help or AEs.
[00:29:07] Jonathan Vu: Yeah, we, so we worked very closely with our AEs and our sales engineers, just AEs more along the lines of, you know, thinking about the campaigns and strategies we can do mm-hmm. Looking at the conferences and, and whatnot so that we can get, you know, our name out there and, and, get meetings with people.
[00:29:24] sales engineers were also, it was also very important to build a relationship with them. but they were, they were just great to help understand, like our product. Gotcha. Especially coming from DataVisor where we were a pretty technical solution. Okay. so you, you were working
[00:29:38] Chris Corcoran: mostly closely with AEs?
[00:29:40] Yeah,
[00:29:41] Jonathan Vu: we, we, I worked, was
[00:29:43] Chris Corcoran: there an AE in New England?
[00:29:45] Jonathan Vu: Yeah, we had our, we had a AE in New England. physically,
[00:29:49] Chris Corcoran: Yeah. Oh, great. Okay. Mm-hmm. Because I was, curious of what it was like working for a company that was headquartered on the West Coast and you were one of the few people Oh, yeah. On the east coast.
[00:29:59] Jonathan Vu: Yeah. So our, our structure eventually as, as we grew, was, yes, we had the headquarters, in the west, and the west team would primarily meet in office, but they were still scattered across, you know, Seattle and, and Washington. Mm-hmm. Elsewhere. but yeah, in the east coast, the majority of us were remotes.
[00:30:16] We were based in like, Ohio and Connecticut. Okay. Virginia, Georgia. So we were all over the place. I see. but that the east coast culture for us. Very good.
[00:30:25] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. so you’ve been, did your memoryBlue stents and The good, bad thing about our model is, you know, we didn’t get to work together all that closely.
[00:30:31] Yeah. You, you know, it’s a bigger company but you weren’t with us for that long. Right. But that’s good too. Cause that’s how it’s supposed to work. Yeah. As you’ve, when you, that you worked with us, you worked for DataVisor and then now you’re at Clear how is. Your perception or your, uh, how has your perception changed or just your, your opinion on where you want to go with your career because you’re not that far out, you’re still so new to the
[00:30:53] Jonathan Vu: workforce, I think.
[00:30:54] Yeah. Well, I think I’m really happy with sales right now. I think, but. Like you said, I am still very early in my career and I, I know there’s no pressure for me right now to kind of figure it all out. what I really see is just, just options laid out in front of me, of, of what I want to do, whether I want to go into management for sales, or whether I wanna be a closer and become an ae.
[00:31:15] or even if I wanted to take a step back and say, you know, sales isn’t right for me, and go back into marketing or operations. Yeah. Those, those, that’s
[00:31:22] Marc Gonyea: not even taking a step back. Because you thought the skillset you have to go to market skillset. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:31:27] Jonathan Vu: You can look at marketing. This is different.
[00:31:29] This is why I wanted to go into sales to understand like the whole operations, business development, but I think all those pathways are, are laid out for me. and so I think, I think, you know, applying to memoryBlue too, that was one of the things I was drawn to. The fact that you guys have options to be, you know, an internal manager or a recruiter or even get hired out by the client, right?
[00:31:49] Mm-hmm. Or even, you know, become a closer for, memoryBlue. I think just having the options right now is, is what’s most appealing to me.
[00:31:56] Marc Gonyea: and what drew you to clear?
[00:31:58] Jonathan Vu: Yeah. Well, I, I was, I’m a user of clear myself. Yes. So I was, I understood the brands. but clear what we’re doing right now is we’re, we’re a little bit similar to DataVisor, so I knew my, expertise could kind of carry over because we’re helping power identity verifications for company.
[00:32:13] Right. the core of our business in the airport and what we’re trying to expand out to, but, I mostly just wanted to look for a change of pace just between DataVisor and then, eventually going to clear, you know, I wanted to reestablish myself into an environment in an office environment.
[00:32:30] Yeah. Where I could, like, I, like I mentioned earlier, just find more support, be within a team. Yeah. And then I really just wanted to see if I could take my skillsets elsewhere and, and. See if I could continue to grow, you know, start learning more about a different industry and just a different approach how a different company goes to market, especially one that’s, public and has the brand that’s light clear.
[00:32:51] I thought it was a really unique opportunity.
[00:32:53] Marc Gonyea: I would agree. Yeah. Fascinating. Right, so you worked at memoryBlue, which most people haven’t heard of. DataVisor classic emerging tech firm. Mm-hmm. But now you’re at a company that everybody knows where Clear is. Right. But it sounds like you’re working with them to break into new markets.
[00:33:08] Right, right.
[00:33:08] Jonathan Vu: Which is fascinating. So it’s interesting. We’re like a, it’s like a startup within a brands. Yeah. You know, we’re trying to do different things and I think it’s, it’s a really unique opportunity. So similar in terms of, status of where, where. I’ve had in, in the past, um, just where the companies were, but having a brand behind it and knowing that people know who you are and kind of what you’re talking about is it changes the narratives and dialogues a little bit.
[00:33:33] Marc Gonyea: Certainly, I would imagine. So has it been that long, but knowing what you know now, what would you have told yourself the night before your first aunt? memoryBlue. This is advice for those people. We have a bunch of make adss starting. Over the next three months. They were all, some people thought about going to marketing.
[00:33:50] Some people who think they’re going to sales are gonna be super nervous. I had a door to door, two summers, I would door to door and I hung up the phone like on one of my first calls, Uhhuh. Right. So like, it’s a little nerve-wracking. Yeah.
[00:34:00] Jonathan Vu: Oh man. I think, you know, looking back on my past self, I, I would definitely just go back and tell myself too.
[00:34:07] Take a deep breath and not overthink so much that, you don’t have to be, what you think a salesperson is, right? Like the biggest thing you need to understand is just to be yourself. Get acquainted to how you are as a seller, not necessarily what you think, a seller is right.
[00:34:23] I think going back and, and just realizing that everything, thankfully will work out. as long as you invest the time, invest the energy, and, and don’t give up. You will eventually, like, things will turn around in sales as you were learning, and it’ll all get better.
[00:34:39] Marc Gonyea: So yeah, you’ll get be, you’ll get stronger, you’ll get better.
[00:34:42] Final question. What do you think, uh, are you gonna, how, how East Coaster how much longer are you gonna be out here gracing this with your presence?
[00:34:50] Jonathan Vu: Oh man, I don’t know. Yeah. No, uh, I definitely want to be in New York for, um, at least another two or three years. Right.
[00:34:57] I’m just, I’m still so new to the city and Yep. There’s no, there’s no telling when I, I might leave. so, okay. That’s probably the best answer I’ve got. But, you know, for the foreseeable future, I’m, I’m really, like I said, you know, I’m an open book, right? I don’t know where the job is gonna take me. I dunno what I’m gonna do, but I don’t feel pressured because I don’t know.
[00:35:15] Yep. I’m kind of just enjoying my space right now, enjoying living New York and enjoying, you know, meeting all the people along the way, so That’s great. I think that’s what’s important for me, and that’s why I’m, I’m rolling with the punches. Love it. Yeah.
[00:35:28] Marc Gonyea: Jonathan, thanks for joining us. Yeah. I mean, initially outta school.
[00:35:31] Yeah. And then today, this has been a little bit, uh, non-traditional for us, but it, it’s good to hear the feedback. I always find it insightful. Mm-hmm. And what we’ll do is, we’ll, we’ll keep up with you. Yeah.
[00:35:42] Chris Corcoran: Enjoy the ride, Jonathan. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thanks for, thanks for coming
[00:35:44] Jonathan Vu: in. Absolutely.
[00:35:46]