Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
Stela Solar takes over as CEO of Stone & Chalk, ANZ's largest startup accelerator. Solar spent 20+ years in AI solution sales at Microsoft, Accenture, and CSIRO. Signals shift toward AI strategy and corporate partnerships.
Teresa Anania, former SVP Customer Experience at Sophos (now CCO at Verint), breaks down how the cybersecurity firm manages customer success across 600,000 accounts when cyber threats evolve in hours, not days. The reality: by the time a support ticket lands, you have already lost the customer.
Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Productivity, says formal qualifications matter less as AI changes what employers value. Judgment and oversight skills will trump degrees as AI handles execution work. Worth noting: Atlassian just cut 1,600 jobs to fund AI investment.
New measurement data from Larridin reveals most sales teams are not using the enterprise AI tools companies paid for. The bigger issue: VPs have no visibility into what is actually working. Here is what the data says about AI ROI and where the money is going.
Atlassian is cutting 1,600 roles globally, around 10% of its 16,000-person workforce. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes says the cuts will fund AI investment and enterprise sales expansion. Impact on ANZ sales teams unclear, but the restructure includes shifting skill mix for AI-era software delivery.
Sheila Vashee, Figma's CMO and former second marketing hire at Dropbox, breaks down how Figma captured 95% of the Fortune 500 by investing in enterprise sales far earlier than most PLG companies. The lesson: build the team before you need them, because enterprise buyers need to see you are serious before they commit. Plus, why AI is reshaping marketing strategy without replacing the human craft.
Melbourne-based Envato is cutting a third of its workforce, around 200 roles globally. The company cited AI-driven changes and strategic restructure following its $372 million acquisition by Shutterstock in 2024. Sales teams across ANZ, US, and Mexico are affected.
Bill Binch (Operating Partner, Battery Ventures) spent 29 years carrying a bag, including Marketo employee #16 through IPO and Pendo CRO scaling to $100M ARR. His framework: start every forecast with quota, track deployed quota against plan monthly, and measure pipeline momentum through six daily inputs. Most companies miss the gap between planned quota and actual quota deployed, which explains why they are short on pipeline.