Why Proprietary Data Beats AI Software for 2x Pipeline Growth with Ann Davis

You are the driver of this, not the customer. So make sure you're in the driver's seat and you're not just being driven by them because they'll take you through all the windy roads and end up at a dead end. And what are you going to get for your time? The most valuable asset salespeople have is their time. If they're not diligent and smart about how they're using it, busy doesn't mean successful. Sorry.

Welcome to the Revenue Builders podcast, a weekly show featuring B2B sales leaders and executives. Hosted by five-time CRO John McMahon and Force Management co-founder John Kaplan, the show takes guests in the barrel, behind the scenes with the people who've been there, done that, and seen the results. Revenue Builders covers best practices for scaling and growing your business while sharing the pitfalls to avoid.

I'm John Kaplan, and I'm joined today, as always, with my co-host and great friend, John McMahon. Our guest today is Ann Davis, Chief Revenue Officer at Crunchbase. Ann spent five years at Google Cloud running their data and analytics practice, and before that, led sales at a company called Looker. was acquired by Google. One of my favorite parts of Anne's background is that when she started her career, she was configuring camera systems on Sidewinder missiles for the F-14 fighter program. She's been in tech now for 32 plus years. Anne joined Crunchbase about a year and a half ago to help lead their shift from a product-led motion to an enterprise motion. And she's got a strong point of view that we're going to dig into, that in the AI era, it's proprietary data, not the software, that's the real long-time value driver. We're going to get into that. We're going to get into what good data actually means for a company trying to get AI ready, where she thinks AI genuinely changes the seller's job versus just speeding up existing tasks, and what it really takes to pull off a PLG to enterprise pivot. Anne is direct, she's sharp, and she does not hold back. We hope you enjoy this one. Let's listen in. So, Anne, I thought I'd just kick off the conversation. When I first met you, I thought your background was so cool. Tell the audience a little bit about kind of how we get you here today as like, you know, the CRO of Crunchbase to go from, you know, product-led motion or PLG to an enterprise. But before that, you're like designing like, for, you know, to go on with Northrop Grumman. So tell us a little bit about how you get here today.

Yeah, I think for me, I was a math science undergrad and nobody would hire me but technical positions back then. And so I started off at Grumman and found myself working on the mission computer aircraft for the F-14 aircraft. And then moved on to some secret missions back then, which were legit just putting, you know, recon cameras in a Sidewinder missile. But then when I realized that really wasn't for me, nobody else would look at me on the business side because of the technical undergrad. So I was sort of forced to go back and get my MBA done. And I got it in corporate finance and strategy. And I did that as a full-time basis because everything had been technical up till then. And so I made my move into sales