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ElevenLabs sales leader calls himself SDR in chief and personally outbounds CEOs

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) · 20Sales: Inside ElevenLabs $330M ARR Sales Machine | The...

“I am the SDR in chief in the company, right?”

31:49 / 32:11

I am the SDR in chief in the company, right? Like, I absolutely love it. I actually love outbounding people. I love it. Like we were like Matty and I were like in Singapore, like, talking to talking like to to Razer, like, the laptops company. Absolutely love the brand. And then that came out because, like, I outbounded the the CEO, and I messaged him, like, Matty and I are gonna be in some in in Singapore

About this clip

Carles Reina reveals his hands-on approach to sales leadership at ElevenLabs, where he personally conducts outbound outreach to major prospects including directly messaging CEOs. He shares how this direct approach led to landing meetings with companies like Razer during business trips.

Why this clip

Shows a counterintuitive leadership approach where a senior executive stays hands-on with fundamental sales activities rather than delegating them.

31:49 - 32:1122stactical advice
outbound-salessales-leadershipceo-outreach

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What they said next

ElevenLabs hit 1M users in a month then pivoted their entire sales strategy

8:35 - 40s · founder story

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How a $20K angel investment in ElevenLabs turned into $800K returns

An angel investor shares the story of meeting ElevenLabs founder Matti and deciding to invest $20K within 30 minutes of their first conversation. The investment has generated roughly 40x returns, now worth around $800K, demonstrating the power of quick decision-making and conviction in early-stage AI companies.

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ElevenLabs sales leader defends public criticism: You need to shame underperformers

Carles Reina from ElevenLabs argues against the traditional management advice of 'praise in public, criticize in private.' He believes in publicly calling out sales reps who haven't done their job so both the individual and the team learn from it. He shares a specific example of telling an account executive they closed deals purely by luck, not skill.

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Why your salespeople should never be in the office

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founder story

ElevenLabs hit 1M users in a month then pivoted their entire sales strategy

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Practical Framework

How do we financially incentivize customer success? NNR. Net revenue retention. Once it's over one fifteen, you get commented. We have bonuses or commission structure that depend how big it gets, then essentially you get two x, three x, four x.

Provides specific, actionable framework for CS compensation with exact NRR targets (115%) and multiplier structure (2x, 3x, 4x). Addresses a common founder question about incentivizing customer success teams.

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